Liminality
by lucyhoneychurch
Summary: Sequel to 'Closet.' If you haven't read 'Closet,' you're going to be lost so I strongly recommend that you read it before you begin reading 'Liminality.' You might also consider reading 'Date,' the oneshot that started it all.
1. Prologue

**Liminality  
Author: Lucy Honeychurch  
Rating: I'm going to say NC-17 but that's only to be on the safe side. I have all kinds of ratings involved in my stories and this is no exception.  
Disclaimer: I Own Nothing  
Spoilers: Season 5  
Summary: Sequel to 'Closet.' If you haven't read 'Closet,' you're going to be lost so I strongly recommend that you read it before you begin reading 'Liminality.' You might also consider reading 'Date,' the one-shot that started it all.**

**A/N This chapter is a trifle bit smutty. In the past for this website, I've editted out all the smut from my stories but in this case, it's smut that advances the plotline and I can't remove it without disrupting the flow of the storyline. I'm rating this story M anyways but for the record, this in the ONLY time in this story that I'll be breaking the rules and posting this kind of material.**

**With this in mind, I hope you all enjoy the story...**

**Prologue**

Lois couldn't remember a time in all her life that she had enjoyed being so messy.

Indeed, after their encounter in the closet, she and Clark had put the food that Martha and Chloe had left for them in the fridge.

Most of it anyway.

The chocolate fudge cake had followed them on the short trip from kitchen to bed and, after realizing that they had not brought forks with them, they had fed it to each other with their fingers. Between kisses and playful touches, the cake had managed to get everywhere.

What had happened next had been a game at first, Clark having thought to have fun with her by gently 'misplacing' some of the icing left over in the container on her face, and then her breasts, but it had soon escalated to the point that she had had to send Clark to the closet to retrieve the condoms, having aroused each other so much in their 'dessert' that their 'one time in the closet' was swiftly looking like 'one time in the closet and then again with icing in bed.'

Now, Lois stood under the spray of the shower, the remnants of their dessert melting away with the combined efforts of the hot water and soap she had used to rid herself of the sticky icing and cake. She leaned her head against the wall of her newly renovated shower and sighed, enjoying the weary elation that was currently running through her body. Lois knew that she was probably going to feel differently in the light of day but for now, she was going to let herself thoroughly enjoy Clark Kent.

Reality could wait until the morning.

The subject of her thoughts brought her out of them as he joined her in the shower. His hands, warm and strong, settled on her waist and pulled her back into him.

"Mmmmm," Lois' arms came down and gently rubbed his arms around her waist. With a sigh of content, she leaned back and allowed him to support her.

"I missed you," he murmured into her ear, just loud enough to be heard above the water.

Lois let out a snort of laughter and turned in his arms, "I've only been in here for five minutes."

"Five minutes too long," Clark kissed her gently, "Besides, I thought you might want someone to scrub your back."

"Or my front," Lois smiled mischievously.

"Or your front," Clark leaned down again to kiss her, his hands drawing her closer under the spray of the shower.

Lois sighed into his mouth and let herself be pushed up against the shower wall, her back colliding with the warmed ceramic tile and her entire body screaming at her to recreate the position that Clark had had her in the closet hours ago if only so that she could have him inside of her again.

The water fell down their bodies, making friction almost impossible as they slipped against each others chests, thereby making their movements only more physically frustrating in its agonizing slowness.

Not that Lois wanted this to be over quickly.

Her right hand trailed down Clark's chest to rest right above his penis, stroking the base gently and trying to decide whether they should leave the shower and go back to bed or just do what they clearly were going to do again here.

In the end, it was Clark who made the decision, letting out a low groan and pushing her even more firmly back into the shower wall, his right hand moving down her body, stopping to stroke her breasts before making the final descent to the place she wanted it the most.

Lois allowed herself a short hiss of discomfort from the small bruises that now graced her back before what he was now doing with his hand drowned out the pain and replaced it with pleasure. Her hand gripped him more firmly now, matching his movements with her own as the feelings ratcheted higher in her.

Their kisses became fiercer, both of them tuning out the water that still ran down their bodies as their world began to narrow.

Lois, unable to stand it anymore, lifted her leg up to settle around Clark's hip, her right hand reaching down to position him at her entrance.

He pushed inside, their lips breaking apart as they both gasped with broken breath.

And then he began to move and Lois could have sworn that she saw stars. A low groan broke out of her, echoing off the bathroom walls and she squeezed him tighter inside her, pulling him closer in the process as their hips bucked against each others in frenzied movement.

This was going far too quickly, Lois noticed as the pleasure quickly came to a breaking point. She slowed their movements as she tried to hold off and she could tell that Clark was trying to do the same as he too slowed. The water began to match their movements, beating down on their backs relentlessly.

She caught his mouth with hers and closed her eyes as they kissed, both desperately close to the edge.

Instinct told her to open them again though, and she found Clark doing the same, openly staring at her with wild abandon and such love that she almost cried right then and there.

She twisted her hips down in an especially friction-ful thrust and she felt the first shiver of orgasm run up her spine. One more made the pressure tighten even more and then Clark was there, taking her lead and thrusting harder and harder until….

* * *

….she shot up in the bed, her body still thrumming with unfinished arousal from her dream.

She ran a hand through her hair and leaned back onto the pillows, clenching her thighs together to make the arousal go away.

It didn't.

With a sigh of resignment, Lois slipped a hand down her torso and slid one hand underneath her pajama bottoms, closing her eyes and letting out a low moan as she touched her clit through the cotton of her underwear once, twice, and then three times, biting her hand after the third firm rub so that her daughter wouldn't hear her embarrassed pleasure in the other room.

During her pregnancy, especially around her 5th and 6th months, the memory of her daughter's conception had popped up in her dreams, her libido running wild. Since Elizabeth had been born though, they had tapered off into once a month kind of dreams, or even once every six months.

About a week ago, they had started again, re-living Elizabeth's conception in her mind nightly over and over again until she thought she was going to go insane.

Or die of horniness, whichever came first.

She took a breath and tried to calm her body and mind down, closing her eyes tiredly and sinking further into her bed. Sleep, elusive at first, finally began to claim her…..

"Mommy!" a voice suddenly cried tearfully from the other room.

Lois sat up wearily, listening for a moment for another call from Elizabeth before getting up and grabbing her robe from the desk. She slipped it on over her pajamas, hurrying now as she heard the low sobs from her daughter.

Elizabeth's dark head popped tearfully out of the nest of blankets as Lois came into the room, her little blue nightgown askew on her shoulders and a fearful look on her face.

"What is it, Sweetie?" she asked, her weariness forgotten as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"The monsters are back," Elizabeth muttered, throwing herself into her mother's arms and putting her head onto her shoulder, her body settling onto her mothers lap.

"Elizabeth, there's no monsters, remember? Aunt Chloe got rid of them for you yesterday when she was here," Lois stifled a small laugh, mindful that that kind of response was not going to garner any kind of belief from her little girl. Chloe, knowing of her goddaughter's fears of the monsters living in her closet, had brought over a spray bottle of water, it's contents masked from what they really were by the label 'Monster Spray' that she had affixed to the bottle. She had sprayed her closet yesterday but Elizabeth was still terrified.

"Didn't work!" she shook her small head firmly and Lois could tell from the way she was shaking that there was only one cure for this.

She kissed the top of her daughter's head, "Would you like Mommy to sleep in here with you tonight then? We can send Aunt Chloe back in to take care of them tomorrow."

"With monster spray," Elizabeth nodded and kissed Lois' cheek, tightening her hold on her mother's neck.

"With monster spray," she agreed, laying them both down in the queen size bed that Chloe had gifted Elizabeth with last year when she had moved from the apartment she had been sharing with her cousin to another two bedroom apartment right across the hall.

Knowing how often Lois ended up sleeping in Elizabeth's bed, Chloe had decided that it had been a great time to invest in the king-size bed she had always wanted and left the queen-size in what used to be her room and was now her goddaughter's.

Lois pulled the covers up over top of them and let Elizabeth settle herself next to her, subconsciously seeking the peace of mind that came with knowing her mother was there by settling into the crook of her arm.

"I love you, Elizabeth," Lois settled herself down into the pillows.

Her daughter murmured a reciprocation, or at least she thought it was a reciprocation; despite a quick, photographic memory and a knack for words even at the age of 3 and a half, Elizabeth still had moments of incoherency; now was one of them….

She snuggled closer to her mother and, with one chubby hand, rubbed the tears she had been crying out of her closed eyes before dropping off into sleep.

With a sigh, Lois followed Elizabeth's lead and closed her eyes, letting her daughter guard her from the past for the rest of the night.

* * *

Clark rubbed a hand over his face tiredly as he landed softly on the ground, noticing with that same hand that his stubble was quickly turning into beard. If he didn't want to freak his Mom out too much, the least he could do would be to shave before she and his father noticed he was home. They hadn't seen him in almost 4 years after all…

He looked around at the familiar farm and drew a deep breath to calm himself. He had a lot of time to make up for. First on the agenda was to see his parents but after that, he had some unfinished business to attend to. Indeed, while he had been allowed to keep in contact with his parents, Jor-El had specifically warned him off of calling any of his other friends in order to keep his journey pure. He had to learn about the human race on his own before he could do what he had to do according to Jor-El.

And so he had traveled, picking up work where he could to feed himself, and helping people until one day about a week ago Jor-El had summoned him to the Fortress and told him he could finally go home.

Clark, suddenly nervous, had lingered in the Fortress for a week afterwards, making sure that Jor-El wasn't toying with him.

Now, a week and a day after he had been told he could leave, Clark was finally home.

He just hoped everyone could forgive him for the way he left.

He shook his head, refusing to think of that now, and drew a fortifying breath before walking towards the farm house. Now was a good a time as any to let them know that he was back…


	2. Part 1

**Part 1**

"Martha?" Jonathan Kent called into the kitchen as he stepped down the last few steps of the staircase, looking around for where his wife had disappeared to. One minute, she had been in bed with him asleep and the next, he had been waking up to an empty space beside him.

"In the kitchen, Jonathan!" Martha called out from her space sitting at the kitchen table and went back to looking through the pictures she had gotten developed earlier that day.

Jonathan wandered into the kitchen and went over to the countertop to pour himself a cup of tea, "The bed was getting cold without you there. What are you doing up?"

She turned to look at her husband and smiled gently, "I couldn't sleep. Too much on my mind."

He shot her a sympathetic look and joined her at the kitchen table, "Worried about him again, aren't you?"

Martha let her husband take her hand into his, "Well, he's been gone for 4 years. It's time he came home. Especially considering…." She trailed off, gesturing to the photos of her granddaughter's half-birthday party, indicating with a wave of her hand how she felt about her son missing so much of his daughter's life.

Jonathan sighed deeply and tightened his grip on his wife's fingers, "Sweetheart, while I'm sure that Jor-El is aware of the circumstances here, Clark has things he has to be doing. He's told us as much from his phone calls."

"I know," she shook her head, picking up her favorite of the pictures-one of Elizabeth after she had blown out the candles of the half a birthday cake her mother had made for her, a huge grin on her face as she did so. Martha had a similar picture of Clark up in one of the many photo albums she had kept over the years, smiling in almost the exact same way. "I just wish this was behind us."

A pain of regret shot through her, guilt that she had helped Lois make the decision not to tell Clark about the pregnancy before he left (however inadvertently) overwhelming her briefly before being put aside. If she and Chloe hadn't had their discussion in the hospital, than Lois would never have known about Jor-El and probably would have told Clark about his impending fatherhood before he had left.

This was a pointless debate however because it really wouldn't have mattered one way or the other if he had been told; Clark would still have lost a family member, at least for a little while. If he had chosen to stay, Jonathan would have died, and missing the first years of his daughter's life came with both the choices of leaving either with full knowledge of his daughter's existence, or no knowledge at all.

"Martha," Jonathan, knowing by the look on her face that she was feeling guilt about Clark's unexpected trip around the world, drew a breath and let it out slowly. "This was not your fault. It wasn't anyone's. Lois made her decision not to tell him and there's nothing we can do about it except understand and support her decision. Even if he had known, I'm not sure that Clark would have done anything differently; he just would have felt more conflicted doing it."

"Understanding and supporting's not the problem," Martha shook her head wearily, meaning what she said. "I understand why Lois made the choice that she did; I think she made the right decision and I'm positive that Clark would have felt the same way once he had weighed all of his options. It's just that….."

Jonathan drew his wife into his arms, "You wish he was home."

Martha nodded, setting the photos down onto the table and settling into her husband's arms, "It's not fair that he has to miss so much of this."

"No, it's not," Jonathan agreed, "But I'm sure he'll be home soon."

He gently placed a quick kiss on his wife's head, squeezing her shoulders tightly before letting her go, "Now come on. It's late and you and I need to go to bed."

Martha let herself be helped up from the table, gathering up the pictures and putting them into the box of pictures she had yet to put into photo albums. She put the lid on the box and turned, taking her husband's hand and allowing herself to be lead up to bed, only stopping to switch the lights off before climbing the stairs.

They were at the top of the staircase when they heard the door open.

* * *

Clark looked into the empty kitchen and sighed. His parents were home (this much he could tell from the two heartbeats he could hear coming from upstairs) but it appeared they had gone to bed. With this in mind, he dropped his bag onto the floor and looked around, resigned as he was to a quiet evening before the storm of meeting and greeting that would most likely occur when they saw him again.

For a moment he contemplated leaving the farmhouse again; it would probably be easier.

He drew a shallow breath and reminded himself that a lot had changed since he had left, but the aspect of his relationship with his parents he was most dreading was unlikely to. They would, after all, always be his parents and they would always be curious as to what he was doing with his time on this planet. He didn't know how to sum up all that he had been through in the last four years though….

As for the rest of the re-settling he knew was going to happen, well, change was inevitable when four years stood between yesterday and today and he couldn't expect to be comfortable until he acclimatized to it. Moreover, it should be welcomed, or so one of the Monks in Tibet had told him when he had been visiting that area of the world.

He just wished it wasn't such a scary prospect.

He inwardly tamped down on the inexplicable fear he felt at being home and ran a hand once more over his face, his stubble rough against his palm. First things first: he was going to have to shave. He turned around to gather up his bag to go upstairs.

"Clark?" his mother's voice made him turn around and the bag in his hand dropped to the floor.

"Hey Mom, Dad," he looked at his parents, almost glad that his mind had been so pre-occupied with the fear of seeing them again after years of only brief conversation that he hadn't noticed their arrival in the kitchen.

"Son," Jonathan drew him into a tight hug.

"Clark," his Mom took a turn, holding him close for a moment before breaking apart from him, "Is it really you?"

Clark nodded, "Yeah Mom. I'm home."

Jonathan stared at his son as if he were afraid he was going to leave again, "So you're….." he trailed off and cleared his throat, "Home for good? Jor-El's done with you?"

"My training's over with," Clark sat down heavily in one of the chairs at the kitchen table. "And Jor-El's let me come home. Not sure that he's done with me or even if that's the correct term but for now, it's over. The rest is up to me."

He drew a breath and looked down at his hands, hearing rather than seeing as his parents joined him at the kitchen table they had so recently vacated, thinking about his last words. The rest of it really WAS up to him and Jor-El had made that perfectly clear in the first week of trailing he had done in the Fortress. The world needed a hero, that much had been made apparent (at least verbally), but Clark hadn't believed it until he had seen it himself. Four years of travel had taught him that and it was this, ultimately, that would drive what he felt was necessary to do next. The world DID need a hero and he loved this world too much to let it go without one…

He looked up to see his father staring at him, a small smile on his face.

"What?" Clark sat back in his chair and looked at his father questioningly.

Jonathan looked at his son and shook his head, "It's nothing. Just…..there's something there that wasn't there before."

"Right," Clark said warily, "It's the beard isn't it? I was going to shave before I saw you two again but…."

"No, Clark," his father laughed more heartily now, his mother following. "Although that's new too. What I meant was that I think you did some growing up in the last four years. It's going to take some getting used to."

"You can tell just by looking at me now?" Clark smiled, letting out a small sigh as he shrugged, "I haven't changed that much, Dad. I've been away for awhile but I'm still the same Clark."

"Well, 'still the same Clark,' his mother stood up from the table, her son's words reminding her that he wasn't the same Clark anymore. Or at least he wouldn't be once he discovered that some other things had changed in the past 4 years. She walked towards the fridge, trying hard to keep her voice steady, "How about some tea? Coffee?"

Clark shook his head, "No thanks. I have to be up tomorrow to go to Metropolis and the caffeine will keep me awake."

Martha's eyes widened, first as her son mentioned that he was going to Metropolis, and then further as she spotted a framed photo of Lois and Elizabeth on the window sill above the sink. She grabbed it quickly and put it picture-side-down on the sill. She would have to take down all the pictures they had of Elizabeth until Clark was told. Lois would probably want that responsibility though….

Her thoughts were dragged back to reality as she remembered that Clark was still sitting in the kitchen, and she cleared her throat, "How about some milk then? And maybe some cherry pie?"

"Cherry pie?" Clark perked up, unaware of the thoughts now racing through his mother's mind. "God, I haven't had cherry pie since I left. Yeah, that would be great."

Jonathan furrowed his brow in confusion as he watched his wife move about the kitchen. His eyes widened to match Martha's as he took in what she had done to the picture on the window sill. With this in mind, he turned to his son, making sure that Clark's attention was anywhere but on his mother. Learning about Elizabeth because he found a picture of her and Lois at his parents house was not an appropriate way to find out about her. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Martha shoved the picture into a little used drawer and picked up the pie and milk from the countertop.

"Thanks Mom," Clark murmured as he received his pie, flashing his mother a grateful look before digging in.

Jonathan cleared his throat and watched as his son ate his dessert...and Martha discreetly slipped into the living room to get rid of the many pictures of their granddaughter that they had placed about the room.

"What's Mom doing?" Clark broke his out of his thoughts.

"Oh," Jonathan shook his head, putting his 'it's nothing' face on. "It's not important. Just something she was going to do tomorrow morning. No time like the present though…."

Clark raised an eyebrow, not buying his father's words for a second. Something was up but his father (if he was reading the look on his face correctly) wanted him to put it aside for the moment…

In the end, he found he could do this. If they were keeping something from him, they had to have a good reason. Besides all that, there was plenty of time to investigate what they were hiding from him later.

He nodded his head and turned back to his pie, "So what have you and Mom been up to since I left?"

His father looked up and motioned to Martha to come into the kitchen, the look on her face telling Clark that whatever it was she had been doing, it had been a success.

"Well," Jonathan began hesitantly. So much had changed…"Your mother bought the Talon. That was about two years ago and I….."

"….became Kansas' newest Senator," his mother finished, sitting back down at the table

Clark took a moment to process this, "Are you serious? How did that happen?"

Jonathan shook his head, "It's a long story. Too long for tonight anyways. You must be tired; it was probably a long run from wherever you were."

"Oh I didn't run," Clark took the last bite of his pie, chewing and swallowing before answering. "I flew. I can make it around the world in about three minutes now, two if the air currents are good."

"You fly now?" Martha leaned forward.

Clark nodded his head, "Lesson number three in Jor-El's training. Number one and two had to do with disciplining myself to be able to handle number three. I told you before, Mom, Kal-El knew how to fly; Clark Kent needed some help."

"If you can make it around the world in that little time now, why did Jor-El have you away from home for so long?" Jonathan cut right to the chase, sensing from Clark's voice that these lessons of his hadn't been easy ones.

"Well, there was a lot to see, Dad. More than I thought there would be actually," Clark finished softly, looking up at his father. "And now I think I know what Jor-El meant when he said I have a destiny that needs to be fulfilled." He drew a breath and sat back in his chair. "I'm meant to help people. That's my destiny."

Martha and Jonathan looked at Clark and smiled. It was nice seeing Clark actually happy with something that Jor-El had sent him out to do, especially when it had to do with why he had been sent to Earth. He had been conflicted for so long that direction-any direction-was a good thing. What he did with his destiny-as Jor-El had put it-was up to him.

Clark cleared his throat awkwardly, his thoughts turning to more personal issues now that he was home. He still had some unfinished business to take care of, and her name was Lois Lane, "So, um, how's everyone else been doing since I left? Chloe, Pete….."

"…..Lois?" Martha finished knowingly.

She watched as Clark blushed and she let out a laugh to match her husbands.

"Son," Jonathan took pity on Clark after a moment, "We know about Lois. It, uh, kind of came out a couple of days after you left."

He refrained from mentioning it had all come out when Lois had confessed to him the whole story of what had happened between she and Clark…..and the fact that he and Martha were going to be grandparents. Martha, he had discovered later, had already known but the revelation had been no less shocking because of it.

"Really…" Clark looked at his parents warily, unsure of how this was going to go over with them.

"Yes, Clark," Martha leaned forward and placed a hand over her son's. "And we approve. Now what time were you going to Metropolis tomorrow?"

A slow grin climbed on Clark's face, "About noon."

Jonathan shook his head, "You should probably wait until 6 or so. She doesn't get home from work until then.'

"Perfect," he nodded slowly, stifling a yawn as a wave of tiredness fell over him. It had been a long week….

Martha chuckled softly, "How about you go up to bed, Clark? You look exhausted."

"I am; the Fortress really isn't the best place to sleep and I spent the last week there," Clark stood up and pushed in his chair. "I'll see you both in the morning."

"Sleep well, Sweetheart," Martha watched as Clark picked up his heavy duffle bag and left the kitchen before letting out a sigh and running a hand over her face. "Would you get me the phone, Jonathan?"

Jonathan furrowed his brow in confusion, but got up to get the phone all the same, "It's 2 in the morning. Who do you need to call?"

"Lois," Martha answered softly, taking the phone from her husband and dialing. "She's going to want to know that he's home."


	3. Part 2

**Part 2**

**4 Years Ago**

She closed the door as she entered the farmhouse, looking around warily as the door clicked shut behind her.

"Lois?"

Lois jumped, placing a hand to her chest in shock, "Martha, you scared me."

"Sorry," Martha came forward, giving Lois a hug of welcome. She pulled back after a moment and watched as Lois' face took on a slightly scared expression. This, she was quickly finding, was becoming a more common occurrence. The pregnancy was bringing out emotion in Lois that Martha had never been certain she had. "Lois, sweetie, it's going to be okay."

"I know," Lois nodded as she smoothed down the cotton of her top, concerned that what she had to tell Mr. Kent was going to be evident as she went in. Indeed, she had waited a month to broach this final topic with the last of the Kent's, shock dictating how long she had stayed away after Chloe and Mrs. Kent's confession of Clark's background the morning after he had left. Jonathan had been let home from the hospital a week and a half after his miraculous recovery but hadn't been told about his son's relationship with Lois or the impending arrival of a grandchild at her request.

But Lois couldn't use shock as an excuse to put this off anymore. It had been a month since Clark had left and his father deserved to know that he was going to be a grandfather soon.

She cleared her throat, "You haven't dropped any hints as to what I'm going to tell him today, have you?"

Martha shook her head, "No. You asked me not to and so I didn't."

"Thank you," Lois nodded gratefully.

"It was the least I could do," the older woman smiled gently, almost apologetically. "The way Chloe and I told you about Clark's abilities had to be a shock."

"Just a little bit," Lois chuckled, looking down at the floor and slipped her shoes off before looking up and meeting Martha's eyes. "I understand why he didn't tell me though."

"Still," Martha took Lois' coat, "It must have been uncomfortable getting all that information at once and knowing that…."

"….I'm having an alien baby?" Lois let out another laugh.

Martha smiled gently, "Something like that."

Lois cleared her throat after a moment, the silence that had followed Martha's last words overwhelming her. Silence had not been her friend lately as it promoted thinking, and that lead to brooding.

She rather thought that Clark was channeling the brooding through the baby…"So is he in the kitchen?"

"Um-hm. He made hot chocolate and everything," Martha smiled, knowing that that had been what Lois had been craving nearly everyday. The baby appeared to have the same likes as its father as was evident from the amount of cherry pie, milk and hot chocolate she had been consuming lately.

"My favourite," Lois murmured, "You ARE joining us for this, right? I mean….this can't be worse than telling my father but there's a huge amount of space between his reaction and yours."

"He didn't take it well then?" Martha asked with a concerned look on her face. That had been a concern from the day she had accidentally told her she was pregnant and she had been prepared to step in an welcome Lois into her own home if the General had reacted badly.

Lois' eyes twinkled, "He was fine after a half hour of me explaining to him that it was my fault that Clark wasn't here for this. Then he was kind of excited." She furrowed her eyebrows and frowned, "That part was unexpected actually."

Martha laughed silently, walking now with Lois to the kitchen, "I'm sure Jonathan won't be too difficult to tell this to. How have you been feeling?"

Lois shrugged, "Tired. A little nauseous. Nothing I can't deal with though."

"And the baby?"

"Big," she looked at Martha. "Bigger than my doctor was expecting. And she's healthy…"

"She?" Martha paused in the doorway to the living room.

Lois nodded, a small smile on her face, "I suck at the whole waiting thing and I hate surprises. When Dr. Rosen told me that they could tell me the sex yesterday, I didn't say no."

"Well, at least I know what colour to knit the blankets and booties," Martha stifled a smirk as they continued to walk towards the kitchen.

"Oh no," Lois shook her head adamantly, "No pink, please. Red, yellow…purple even, but no pink. I hate pink….."

"How about lavender then? I could even throw in some light blue around the edges….." Martha trailed off at the end of her sentence as they reached the kitchen and her husband looked up at her expectantly.

Lois smiled nervously as Jonathan greeted her and pulled out a chair next to him…

* * *

**Present Day**

"Lois?"

Lois snapped her head up as her name was called, taking her forcibly out of the memory, "What?!"

Chloe held up her hands and shot her a look, "What is your problem today? You've been jumpy all morning. Did Elizabeth keep you up all night again?"

Lois rubbed a hand across her eyes tiredly, her mind drifting briefly back to the memory of telling the Kent's the whole story behind how Elizabeth had come to be before falling back into the present day, "Sort of. That dream I've been having woke me up and then Elizabeth got me up again when she had a nightmare. I had just gotten back to sleep when Martha called me."

Chloe pulled a chair close to Lois' desk and sat down, "Why would Martha be calling you at 2 in the morning? Is Mr. Kent alright?"

"Yeah," Lois looked her cousin in the eye, lips pursed as she tried to decide how to tell Chloe what Martha had told her without putting her into complete shock. In the end, she decided to go with the straightforward route. "She called me to tell me that Clark's back."

"WHAT?!" Chloe's voice drew stares from the reporters whose desks were closest to them on the floor of the Daily Planet.

Lois smiled apologetically at her neighbors before shooting Chloe an annoyed look, "He got back late last night apparently. He'll be here tonight around 6."

"Oh my God," Chloe breathed deeply, "Did you….did you tell Elizabeth yet?"

"What, do I look stupid to you? Of course I didn't," Lois leaned back in her chair.

"Wait," Chloe mimicked Lois and leaned back in her own chair, "That was the stupid option?"

"Well, yeah," Lois sighed, "What was I going to do, Chloe? I don't even know if he's going to want to see her or not and I'm not about to force him into anything by telling my 3 and a half year old that her Daddy is home from his trip around the world. That's unfair to both him and Elizabeth."

Chloe nodded, understanding to a certain extent now, "But…you're going to tell her, right?"

Lois shrugged, "That depends on Clark."

"Oh come on, Lois!" Chloe rolled her eyes now, "He was the one who made the decision to forget to wear a condom and you're telling me that your daughter might live without knowing her father if he- the idiot, I'll mention again, who got you pregnant-chooses that option?"

"Well…."

"No, Lois," Chloe continued, "I mean, do you honestly think he's going to want to deny her that information? And for that matter, do you think his parents would let him? She knows who he is because of them and she's going to know the moment he steps in the door that it's him."

"Chloe, I can't force him into this. This is bigger than anything I've ever had to tell anyone and I just can't lay this information on him and expect him to play "Happy Family" with me and the daughter he never knew he had," Lois finished, crossing her arms.

From beside her, her cousin burst into laughter.

"What?" Lois looked at her, confused.

"Nothing," Chloe continued to laugh, "I'm just picturing you playing 'Happy Family' with Clark. Would you even want that?"

Her cousin paused a moment, thinking, "No. Not right now anyways," Lois finally shook her head, weariness and a touch of something that Chloe was sure was regret in her voice. "We had issues we needed to work out even before he left but now…."

Chloe's laughter softened and she drew a deep breath, "You two are going to have a lot to talk about. Should I be taking Elizabeth for the night?"

Lois met her cousin's eyes, "Chloe, nothing's going to happen tonight…."

"I didn't think it was going to. I'm just concerned that the two of you will irreparably damage my goddaughter's ears if I don't let her stay with me," Chloe smirked, leaning forward in her chair.

Lois narrowed her eyes, "Funny. I'm sure Clark and I can have a civil conversation without resorting to yelling at each other."

Chloe let out a snort of laughter, "Right. With four years, one child and a huge secret between the two of you? And let's not forget the fact that you practically kicked the guy out of your bed the morning after your evening in the closet."

"Hey, we resolved that the evening before he left," Lois argued.

Chloe gave Lois an incredulous look, "While you were hiding the fact that you were three months pregnant and he was hiding the fact that he's….different? I don't think so…."

Lois let out a groan, and let herself fall forward on her desk, burying her face in her hands as Chloe's words hit home. She was right; she and Clark were going to be back to square one, no, worse than square one because now there was so much more between them than forbidden kisses and hurt feelings. There were secrets, lies…..and undeniable proof of the evening that had both destroyed and revealed their true feelings for each other.

"I'm just saying," Chloe sighed, "I'm here for you if you need help tonight."

Lois raised her head and looked her cousin straight in the eye. Despite how much she wanted Clark to know about their daughter, she couldn't just thrust the information at him as soon as he walked in the door. She had always been brash and straightforward but this circumstance called for a more delicate and subtle touch. Perhaps sending Elizabeth to her Aunt Chloe's for the evening would be a good thing… "I'll drop her off after I pick her up from daycare then?"

"Sure," Chloe nodded, "Anything I can do to help."

Lois nodded and cleared her throat. A moment passed before she spoke again.

"Chloe?"

"Yeah Lois?"

"Do you think…." She trailed off, an insecure tone to her voice.

"Do I think what, Lois?"

"Do you think he's going to be mad at me for not telling him?"

Chloe went quiet as she thought, "I don't know. The way things were, I'm pretty sure that he still would have left. The question we have to ask ourselves is if Clark Kent would have preferred to know he was going to miss years of his child's life or live in blissful ignorance of the whole thing."

Lois drew a breath, "Which is it do you think?"

Chloe smiled knowingly, "I don't know. When you find out, let me know."

And with that, she stood up and walked back towards her desk.

"Lois!" Perry White's voice made her close her mouth against the swift words she had been about to call after her cousin.

"Yeah Chief?" Lois turned around in her chair, staring at the face of her Editor-In-Chief as he looked at her from the door to his office.

"I need to see you in my office for a moment."

She nodded, getting up from her chair and going into Perry's office.

"Have a seat," he nodded to one of the chairs before sitting down behind his desk.

Lois sat down, crossing one leg over the other and looking at him expectantly.

Perry drew a deep breath and inwardly prepared himself for the deluge of protests he was probably going to hear once he told her what he had to tell her. It had to be done though. She and Sullivan were his best reporter's and he couldn't afford to let that kind of experience go to waste.

He cleared his throat and began to speak, "What with Lawrence gone now, we've had to hire a new reporter."

"Oh?" Lois looked interested, "Who'd you get? Lawrence was really good."

"The Gotham Gazette thought so too," Perry shot back dryly. "The fact of the matter, Lois, is that you and Sullivan are my most experienced reporters and you're used to working as a team. I know you're working on your own now but I was wondering if you would re-consider working as a team with this new reporter."

"A partner?" Lois grimaced in distaste.

"Now Lois," Perry raised a re-assuring hand, "It'll just be for a few months. Just long enough to get his feet wet and then you can go back to writing your own stories."

"Just a few months?" she narrowed her eyes, her mind running briefly over the possible ways that she could react to this request. If she made a fuss, she would lose. Perry was her Editor after all and he could make her do what he wanted but if she was nice about this, he might just give her an extra week's vacation this year, which would make Elizabeth happy. She cleared her throat and put on her best non-committal face, "You promise me?"

"Four, maybe five months, tops," Perry re-assured her.

Lois sighed, repeating to herself that she was doing this for Elizabeth, not herself, "Alright chief. But after five months I'm going back to working on my own, alright?"

"No problem," Perry smiled in relief, glad that Lois was being uncharacteristically easy to deal with today. He would have to remind himself to thank the person responsible for that…

Lois drew a breath through her nose, "Was there anything else? I was in the middle of typing up a story for the evening edition."

"You go right ahead," Perry stood up, watching as she stood and headed for the door. "And thank you again, Lois. This is much appreciated."

"Yeah, yeah…." Lois rolled her eyes as she stepped out the door. "I'm a giver alright."

Perry muttered something to himself and closed the door after she left, locking it to insure that she didn't turn around to get out of it.

From outside the door, Lois stopped and looked back, shaking her head as she walked the short distance from the office to her desk, all the while feeling like she had forgotten something.

It wasn't until she was back at her desk that she remembered that what she had forgotten was the name of her new partner.


	4. Part 3

**Part 3**

**3 and a Half Years Ago**

"Chloe, I am NOT naming my daughter after a character on a television program!" Lois crossed her arms over her belly where the aforementioned daughter was resting peacefully for the first time all day.

Now a week away from her due date, this was quickly becoming a luxury not to be taken lightly. The baby had been incredibly active lately and Lois had been feeling it in the amount of lost sleep and trips to the bathroom…

"Why not?" Chloe rolled her eyes and motioned with one hand to the television and the episode of Dawson's Creek they were watching. "It's not like you've had luck finding names you like anywhere else."

"I'll know her name when I see her, Chloe," Lois sighed, used to hearing this from her cousin. She patted her belly gently for emphasis, "And if I decided to name her after a character from anywhere, it would probably be from a book."

"Well, you wouldn't have to name her Joey. Josephine would be better, anyways. It's strong, independent…..and the name of one of the main characters of 'Little Women.' You could have your cake, and eat it to."

Lois let out a groan, "You HAD to go there with the name Josephine. You just tainted it! I HATE Joey Potter. She sucked the life right out of Dawson's Creek. Not to mention both Pacey and Dawson."

Chloe crossed her arms, "And THIS is where we part ways. Season 1 Joey was awesome. If her character went downhill blame the producers."

Lois shrugged her shoulders, preparing to argue with her cousin, "I liked her in Season 1 too, but I hated what they did with her after. In my opinion, the best relationship on that show was Dawson and Pacey's but she HAD to go and screw that up. I hate triangles. HATE THEM."

"I guess Josephine is out then," Chloe raised an eyebrow at the passion Lois was showing.

"Pretty much," Lois sighed, shifting in her seat as her back let her know that it was tired of sitting in this position. "I've been thinking about Elizabeth actually."

"Classic," Chloe nodded. "A little simple though. I would have thought you would have gone for something like Zoe or Madison. Maybe name her something completely weird like 'Apple.'"

"Do I look like Gwyneth Paltrow to you, Chloe?" Lois paused in her shifting to glare at her cousin before rolling off the couch entirely as the baby-awake from her movements-kicked her sharply in the bladder. "I'll be right back; I have to pee again."

"Alright," Chloe reached forward to pick up the bag of chips that was sitting on the coffee table in front of her, eating a few as she waited for Lois to come back.

"That didn't take you long," she looked up, a concerned look growing on her face as she took in the funny expression on her cousin's face. "What's wrong?"

Lois shook her head, lowering herself down to the couch and sitting back with a sigh, "Nothing. I'm just bleeding a bit."

"Bleeding?!" Chloe sat up, alarmed. "Are you okay? Are you cramping? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?"

"Chloe, relax. I'm fine and Dr. Rosen told me this would happen; it just means that I might be having this baby sooner than my due date says I'm going to."

Chloe, unconvinced, furrowed her brow and crossed her arms, "Should I be staying home from class tomorrow?"

Lois let out a chuckle, "No. I'm fine and you have your cell phone. If I happen to go into labor in the 6 short hours you'll be in class, I'll call you."

"Are you sure, Lois? Bleeding's never a good thing…."

"Yes! I'm sure. And in this case, it's a very good thing. It means that my body's getting ready to actually give birth soon which, as I said before, is a very good thing. At the very least, I'd like to see my feet again when I stand up."

"If you say so. Maybe I should get Mr. and Mrs. Kent to come up here tomorrow and keep you company…"

"I'll be fine. You have your cell, and the hospital is a mere three blocks away. If hell freezes over and I happen to beat the odds for a first time pregnancy and have a fast labor and delivery then I'll haul you out of class but that's incredibly unlikely," Lois cleared her throat, "Now where were we on the name discussion?"

"We were on the merits and downfalls of naming your child after a television character or fruit," Chloe took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself. Lois was right; a little bleeding was perfectly normal at this point and as long as it didn't get worse, there was really no need for worry.

That didn't mean she was letting Lois out of her sight anytime soon though.

"Oh yes," Lois shifted in her seat again, trying to get comfortable. "First things first: no fruit names. Second, I'm still not naming her Josephine if only because of my hatred of Joey Potter."

"Well, at least you're considering specific names now instead of a list of a hundred. Elizabeth would be cute."

"I considered the nicknames when I picked that one," Lois put her feet up on the coffee table. "There's nothing completely scarring about being called any of the derivatives of Elizabeth so it seems like a safe choice."

Chloe let out a short burst of laughter, "Only you would think of something like that, Lois."

"Well, it's important. She's going to have enough issues if she inherits any of my bad habits or Clark's….." Lois trailed off, not sure of the words to describe Clark's powers without making it sound like he was an alien or simply a freak. While he might actually be an alien, to her and to his family and friends, he was simply Clark and the term alien, she had decided, was a completely derogatory one.

"….Better than averageness?" Chloe finished for her.

"Yeah," she nodded. It was pretty much a given that this would be the case; after all, Lois had been invulnerable to injury throughout her pregnancy and she was fairly certain it had something to do with Clark's half of their daughter's genetic material.

She had no clue how it would eventually manifest itself though. Would her daughter have powers like her father, or would she simply be invulnerable like her mother was now?

Whatever the case, Lois had vowed to herself that, despite how long Clark might be gone for and whether or not he actually wanted to see his child once he got back, she would try to make things easier for her daughter any way she knew how.

And at the moment, easier included names that didn't have rude nicknames attached to them.

She mentally mulled over Chloe's suggestion; she didn't want to admit it, but she liked Josephine. It was a good, strong name and not only was it the name of her favourite character from Little Woman, her favourite book as a girl, but it just happened to be the female version of Clark's grandfather's name.

With this in mind, she tucked the name away for later consideration and concentrated on listening to her cousin and ignoring the sporadic pain in her back she had been having all night along….

**Present Day**

Lois sighed in frustration as she fought to keep the bag of groceries, her laptop, and her briefcase from falling off her arm and onto the pavement while simultaneously keeping a hold of her daughter's hand.

"C'mon Sweetie, we're late already," she said in what hoped was a coaxing voice as the doorman let them into their building.

"For what, Mommy?" Elizabeth adjusted her backpack on her back, her light purple dress moving on her shoulders as she did so. While Lois had had luck keeping any pink clothing out of her daughter's wardrobe, Martha Kent had set a standard with that first blanket she had crocheted and purple had been a part of Elizabeth's attire ever since.

Lois paused at the elevator, pressed the button up and looked at her daughter, "Mommy's got to meet an old friend tonight and you have a date with your Aunt Chloe for a sleepover."

Elizabeth furrowed her brow and tilted her head to one side, confused, "But why can't I meet your friend?"

Lois cleared her throat, unsure of how to answer her daughter's question and inwardly cursing Clark's side of Elizabeth's genetic material.

Elizabeth, according to the doctor's that she had spoken to concerning her advanced language skills and IQ, was a certifiable genius by Earth standards however Martha had assured her that this was standard behavior for a child of her origins.

Not that they had much basis for comparison.

She was travelling along much the same path that Clark had been on when the Kent's had found him in that corn field all those years ago. According to the Kent's, once Clark had learned English he had quickly picked up reading and advanced language skills with what they later learned was due to his photographic memory. Clark himself, Lois had learned, could be considered a genius but, due to his powers, this had been kept under wraps for his own protection.

As far as the world was concerned, Clark had been just a normal kid with abnormally high language skills for his age...

She shook her head, shoving the thoughts concerning her daughter's-and Clark's-genius aside for the moment to answer her question, "It's better this way, Elizabeth. If everything goes well, you can meet him tomorrow."

"Promise?" Elizabeth crossed her arms and gave her mother one of her best pouts. During one of her weekends in Smallville, her grandfather had told her about her mother's weakness to her pouts which had worked in her favor from then on.

It didn't look like the theory was going to prove itself wrong any time soon, either…

Lois sighed, "Alright but not unless he says it's okay."

Elizabeth nodded, a smile on her face as she stepped into the now opened elevator.

Lois followed, hoping that Clark hadn't arrived yet. She needed a moment by herself to collect her thoughts before seeing him again and she still needed to drop Elizabeth at Chloe's.

The elevator opened on their floor and Lois took her daughter's hand, leading her into the hallway towards Chloe's apartment. Just to be on the safe side, it was probably a good idea to drop Elizabeth off first and then go across the hall to her own apartment for her nightgown, toys and toothbrush.

She knocked on Chloe's door, letting go of Elizabeth's hand as she re-adjusted the grocery bag to sit in her other hand. The door opened abruptly to reveal her cousin, looking as if the world had just fallen down around her ears.

"Lois!" Chloe exclaimed, her head shifting back into her living room before falling on her cousin.

Lois shoved the grocery bag that had been giving her so much trouble into Chloe's arms and pushed past her into the apartment, "You will not believe the afternoon I had. It took me forever to get out of the office and don't get me started on how long it took for me to get across town to pick up Elizabeth from daycare. I swear…."

She trailed off as her daughter's small hand slipped into hers and pulled her arm gently.

"Mommy, who's that?"

"Honey, who are you…." She looked up and stared as she looked at Clark Kent, staring at her from across the room. "Oh my God."

"Lois," Clark walked toward her slowly, taking in the sight of the little girl who had followed her into the apartment and had called her 'Mommy.' He stood in front of her, touching her face gently before pulling her into a brief hug. Above all, Lois was a friend, or at least she had been at one time. If the passing years had made it impossible for them to be anything more than friends, he wanted to know that they would at least be that and a hug seemed like a good place to start. Her body, in shock, remained stiff in his arms a moment before hugging him back tightly.

Clark sighed in relief as he pulled back and cleared his throat, "And who are you?"

Elizabeth looked up at the man now speaking to her before replying in a quiet voice, "I'm Elizabeth. Who are you?"

"My name is Clark," Clark knelt down, grateful that the child wasn't being shy. From the reactions that he had gotten from both Chloe and Lois upon his arrival, it was comforting to get some real warmth from someone.

He looked the child-Elizabeth-over and felt the smile on his face falter a bit as he took in her appearance at close range. She was tiny and looked about 3 or 4 years old. He put that last thought aside as he looked her over more thoroughly. If she was that old than that meant that she was his and she couldn't be.

Lois would have told him if she had been pregnant…

Elizabeth's hair was dark like his though, and he could swear that that shade of blue of her eyes was exactly the same as his. He looked up at Lois and his heart stopped as he saw tears in her eyes.

Maybe he didn't know Lois as well as he thought he did…

He cleared his throat, suddenly thick, and asked the question that would confirm what he already knew in his heart, "How old are you, princess?"

A smile broke out across Elizabeth's face, "That's what grandpa calls me. How'd you know that?"

Clark shook his head, trying to determine which grandpa she was referring to. It sounded more like something his father would call a granddaughter rather than Lois' but he didn't want to think about that possibility. He couldn't imagine that his parents would have just omitted that kind of information out of the brief phone calls he had had with them over the years.

"Just a good guess," he cleared his throat again and tried his best to keep his emotions off his face, "But you didn't answer my question: how old are you?"

"Three and a half," Elizabeth spoke proudly, holding up the fingers to confirm the number she had just gave him, even down to the half a finger she folded over. "I remember 'cuz Mommy and Aunt Chloe made me half a birthday cake last week for my party. It was chocolate. I love chocolate. Grandma and grandpa came and…."

Elizabeth began to talk, the dam of silence she kept when she met new people breaking in her eagerness to tell everyone everything there was to know about her.

In front of her, Clark had to stop himself from falling down as he stood back up and looked at Lois.

"Clark….." she started, silent tears making tracks down her face uncharacteristically.

He had only ever seen her cry once.

"Did you know?" he asked quietly, "Did you know when I left that you….that we…."

Chloe watched as Lois and Clark communicated with their eyes along with their quietly spoken words and stooped down to pick up the still babbling Elizabeth, "C'mon Sweetie."

"No," Clark stopped her with a hand. "Don't. Just….wait a moment."

Chloe met Clark's eyes with her own, taking in the million emotions that she knew were now flying through his brain before nodding.

"Does she even know?" he pointed to Elizabeth, standing next to her Aunt and looking at Clark as if she was trying to figure out something.

"Know what?" she spoke up, getting a 'shush' from Chloe for her troubles.

Lois wiped the tears off her right cheek with the side of her hand, "She knows your parents, Clark and we all told her about you."

He nodded, shock making him numb.

He had a daughter.

He looked over at the little girl and felt his eyes begin to fill as his throat tightened. He wanted to hold her but he was afraid at how she would take it.

Clark didn't have to ask in the end.

From below him, he felt his hand being tugged insistently. He knelt again next to Elizabeth, surprised when her arms came around his neck and gave him a hug.

They pulled back after a moment.

"What was that for?" he murmured, a hand coming up to smooth his daughter's hair down.

Elizabeth gave him a solemn look, "Mommy says that a hug fixes hurts and you're crying so you must be hurt."

"Am I crying?" Clark breathed deep and raised a hand to his cheek, surprised to find that the tears that had filled his eyes a moment ago were now running down his cheeks.

She nodded.

"You speak very well for someone your age, Elizabeth," he wiped the tears off his other cheek.

"Mommy says I have a photogiraffic memory," she said proudly.

"Photographic, sweetheart," Chloe broke in.

"Pho-to-graph-ic," Elizabeth sounded out, pleased when it came out correctly.

Clark laughed, ignoring the tears that continued to fall, "I have one of those too."

Elizabeth furrowed her brow. The man in front of her looked like the pictures she had seen of her father but she couldn't be sure, "My Daddy has one of those too. Are you my Daddy?"

Lois broke in at this point, kneeling down next to her daughter and looking Clark in the eye, "Yes, pumpkin. Clark's your Daddy."


	5. Part 4

**Part 4**

**3 and a Half Years Ago**

"I can't do this anymore," Lois breathed out, her head falling back on the pillow behind her as her body relaxed slightly.

"Yes you can, Lois," Chloe flexed her fingers in her cousin's hand, trying to get feeling back into them before the next contraction began. They were coming almost continuously now but, despite her efforts, the baby was stubbornly refusing to make an appearance.

"No, I can't," Lois sat up again, shaking her head negatively as tears of frustration began to form in her eyes, "I've had enough."

"I know," Chloe murmured into her ear, looking up in time to see Lois' doctor motion for her to get behind Lois the way she had been throughout her cousin's labor. "But it'll be over soon."

At least she hoped it would be. Lois had been in labor for 28 hours now.

"Your cousin's right," Dr. Rosen echoed Chloe's earlier statement from the foot of the bed. He shot Lois a smile, "I can finally see the head. Another two pushes and I think the baby will finally be gracing us with her presence."

"Oh thank God," Lois groaned and closed her eyes, her hand gripping Chloe's more tightly as she settled back against her and tried to gather what was left of her strength. She was more than ready for this to be over with. The 'magic' that her Lamaze instructor had told her was part of the labor and delivery experience had worn off about 24 hours ago.

"On the next contraction, I want you to push but not too hard. We don't want you to tear…."

Lois didn't have the energy to tell her doctor that that wasn't possible right now; she had been invulnerable to injury since the beginning of her pregnancy and tearing was probably the last thing that would be happening to her. Instead, she tried to rest until the next contraction.

She didn't have to wait long…

Lois gripped Chloe's hand tightly as her body tensed and she bore down as Dr. Rosen had told her to. The pressure between her legs grew exponentially as the baby moved down.

"Two steps forward, one step back, Lois," Dr. Rosen murmured from between her legs. "The good news is that I can see more of the head. One more should do it, I think…"

She panted hard as she pushed again and suddenly, a loud cry filled the room.

"She's got lungs like you do, Lois," Chloe teased from behind her.

"Shut up, Chloe," Lois let out a half laugh, half sob as she felt her daughter slip from her body into her doctor's hands. She let out a breath of relief, closing her eyes briefly. Compared to the rest of her labor, the actual delivery had been almost anticlimactic and for this she was grateful. Right now, all she wanted to do was sleep and maybe get something to eat. She mentally ran over what she was going to have to say to get Chloe to run out and buy her a cheeseburger from the restaurant down the street…

"Oh Lois," Chloe smiled broadly, her head craning to watch as the doctor checked the baby over. "She's gorgeous."

Lois opened her eyes, watching as Dr. Rosen handed the baby, umbilical cord freshly cut, off to a nurse to be cleaned. A moment later, her daughter was placed into her arms…

**Present Day**

"So everything went okay then?"

Lois met Clark's eyes and smiled reassuringly, her thoughts coming back to the present, "Yeah. Everything went fine. I mean, the part where I was in labor for 28 hours was a little excessive but beyond that everything was good. Nothing was wrong with either Elizabeth or myself so the nurses let us go home the next day."

"The next day? Are you serious?"

"Relax Clark. I was actually a little relieved. I didn't know that they wouldn't decide to run more tests on Elizabeth other than the usual blood tests and I didn't want to take the chance that they would. Dr. Rosen pulled some strings, did the tests himself and had us released the morning after I gave birth."

"So….Dr. Rosen knows about…." Clark trailed off.

Lois shook her head, "No. All he knows is that Elizabeth has unusual blood work."

"Good," he nodded, furrowing his brow in mid nod as a thought suddenly occurred to him, "Wait. How was he able to take blood at all? I thought you said you were invulnerable during the pregnancy because of Elizabeth's blood."

Lois nodded, "And I was. When she was born, that aspect seemed to go away for awhile. It gradually built back up over the next few months. Even now she's not at the point that I was when I was pregnant. For the most part, she's just a normal little girl who just doesn't get as bad scrapes and bruises as her friends do."

Clark let out a chuckle, "She doesn't seem so normal. I'm fairly certain that most 3 and a half year olds don't speak the way she does, let alone read."

"I hear that's your fault," Lois sat back against the couch and picked up one of the many pictures that littered the living room from the small table next to them. She touched the glass gently, her finger tracing the lines of her daughter's face before handing it to Clark.

"My fault?" he raised an eyebrow, taking the framed picture and smiling as Elizabeth grinned broadly back at him.

"Yes. Your fault. Apparently your photographic memory came with the genes. Beyond that, she has a gift for language that even I can't keep up with. Your Mom said that, based upon what she and your father found out from raising you, Kryptonian brains work faster than the average human," Lois shrugged her shoulders, "She still plays like she's three and a half though…."

She trailed off as she realized how engrossed Clark was in looking at their daughter's pictures. Indeed, while she had been talking, he had gotten up and was now looking around the room at them.

Lois cleared her throat, "If you want, I can go get the photo albums out."

"No, it's alright. Not tonight anyway," he murmured.

"So what did you and she do for three hours?" she asked after a moment of silence during which time her guilt over not telling him about Elizabeth, already high, mounted as she watched him look at pictures of the daughter she had deprived him so much time with.

Clark shrugged, not looking up from the picture he had just found of Elizabeth's first half birthday party, "Nothing much. We talked a lot, read some. She asked me a lot of questions… She gets that from you, by the way."

"Naturally. Lane's aren't known for their quiet nature," Lois stood up and moved across the room to join Clark at the mantle. "She looks like you though. Same hair, same eyes…"

"Yeah, but she's got your nose and lips," Clark put down the picture and looked at Lois, trying to decide how best to approach what he knew they had to talk about. Right now they were covering it up as best they could with pleasantries and the joy that came from being with each other again but he knew that under this bandage lay a festering wound that had been that way since the morning after they had conceived their daughter years ago.

He let out a nervous laugh, "You know, compared to this, what I have to tell you doesn't seem so big anymore…"

"Are you referring to why you went away or the fact that you're not from around here?" Lois crossed her arms. "Because your Mom already told me about why you left the way you did. The other part she told me about too but I think I'd rather hear it from you."

"It might take some time though. And, while I know that we have to talk about it eventually, I don't want to talk about it tonight if that's alright."

Lois nodded, knowing that they both had bigger fish to fry. She knew enough about his secret that it could be explained tomorrow or the next day.

"Lois, I just….I have to know," he raised a hand to cup her cheek, "Were you going to tell me about her? That last night when we….did you have any intention at all of telling me?"

Lois went silent a moment but in the end, didn't bother lying to him. She averted her eyes, afraid to see the betrayed look that she knew Clark would unintentionally give her, "No. On that particular night I had no intention of telling you that I was pregnant."

Clark nodded his head before taking his hand away and giving her a hurt look, "Were you ever going to tell me then?"

Her head shot up and she looked at him, slightly insulted, "Of course I was."

He nodded, "And when was that going to be?"

Lois looked him in the eye, "Tonight actually. You beat me to the punch with the whole showing up early thing though. When your Mom called, she said I should expect you at 6:30."

"It was 6:45 when you came in the door, Lois. I wasn't early; you were late," he walked away from her, filing away the fact that his mother had called Lois to warn her that he was coming to Metropolis. In retrospect, he probably should have called before he showed up but he had wanted to surprise her.

He hadn't expected a surprise in return.

"How many people have been keeping this from me?" He asked in a curt voice as he looked around the room at all the pictures of Elizabeth that were littered across every surface. Despite knowing that Lois had had a legitimate reason for not telling him he was going to be a father, he was still so hurt and angry that he thought he would break. Moreover, he felt betrayed. After all, his parents knew too and they hadn't said anything about Elizabeth to him.

Lois took a deep breath, "Clark, you need to know that the decision not to tell you was mine and mine alone. No one told you anything about Elizabeth because I asked them not to." She lowered her head, looking up at Clark after a moment to find him quietly waiting for her to continue.

She would give Clark credit where credit was due; he might be angry with her, but at least he was listening.

She cleared her throat, "The night that I found out that I was pregnant was the same evening that your father had his heart attack. I took the call from my doctor outside the hospital room after Chloe got back from wherever you two went and, at that point, I had every intention of going over to the farm and telling you. Seemed unfair not to. I mean, we may have been at odds at the time but despite how angry and hurt I was at the way things were, I couldn't keep it from you."

"Then why did you?" Clark asked softly.

"I overheard a conversation between your mother and Chloe. Something about Jor-El and you leaving because of something he told you you had to do," she watched as Clark's eyes widened in shock.

"Yeah," she continued, his reaction enough to convince her that he was as shocked as she once was, "That was my reaction too. I didn't believe any of it until I heard that leaving would save your father's life and then….I don't know, what I had to do seemed perfectly clear."

Clark furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. There was no way she could have known who Jor-El was, or the seriousness of the situation and while he could see why she hadn't told him about the baby if that were the case, he couldn't see her not telling him simply because of an overheard conversation, "Lois, I don't understand."

"I trust your mother, Clark. And Chloe. If they thought that your leaving the country for an undisclosed amount of time would help your father's condition, I was more than ready to encourage you to do so and if I had told you…." she shook her head and raised her face to the ceiling of the apartment, "Clark, if I had told you, can you honestly tell me you would have left?"

Clark simply looked at her, his eyes answering for him guiltily. She was right. He would have stayed…and his father would have died because of that decision.

She let out a short and humorless laugh, "That's what I thought. You would have stayed out of obligation, your father would have died and you and I would have been miserable."

"Lois, it wasn't your decision to make," he said firmly, his temper ratcheting up a notch unexpectedly as he spoke the words. It wasn't just his life she had decided to play God with; it was their daughter's too.

"Wasn't it?" Lois broke him out of his thoughts, her words defensive as she tried to explain why she had done what she had done. "Well what was I supposed to do? Your father's life was hanging in the balance; I did what was best for all of us."

Anger rose unexpectedly out of Clark, "Right. What was best for all of us. I'm just curious, Lois, but when you use the word 'us' do you mean you, me, our families and Elizabeth, or just you?"

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" she retorted, forgetting for the moment that she had chosen to take the high ground and stay calm for this conversation. Entitled or not, she was not about to let Clark talk to her the way he was.

"It means exactly what it sounds like," he cleared his throat, meeting her eyes and tamping down on the feelings of guilt that fell over him in a wave at the hurt he saw there. He was not going to allow Lois to make him feel like the bad guy.

Lois nodded her head, her own temper cracking as she angrily mulled over what he had just implied. Perhaps it was time to talk about his own secrets after all…

"Well what about your secret, Clark? When were you going to tell me about that? At least I had a reason for not telling you. What was your reason?"

He looked at her incredulously, "What? I was supposed to preface our first time together with 'by the way, I'm from another planet?' Lois, it doesn't work that way. I didn't know you well enough to know whether or not my secret would be safe with you."

She crossed her arms, "You knew me well enough to sleep with me, Clark."

"Yeah, I did," he threw up his arms in frustration, "And I very likely would have told you the morning after we got locked in the closet but someone decided to kick me out of her apartment."

Lois fell silent, averting her eyes from him as his words hit home, "So we're back to that again."

"Yeah Lois, we're back to that," he sighed in frustration. "I'm sure you'll forgive me for not telling you about my secret earlier. You didn't exactly show me that I could trust you after that morning."

"But what about that last evening? You could have told me then…"

"Lois, I still didn't know if I could trust you! You told me you had feelings for me but I'm not sure if you would have said anything about them if I hadn't been leaving. And now to find out that you were pregnant and knew it when I left….you just verified for me why I shouldn't have trusted you. So thank you for that. It makes me feel a whole lot less guilty about keeping this from you."

"Clark, I…"

Clark stopped her with a shake of his head, "Lois, it's alright; you don't have to explain. I get it. I was leaving and you felt guilty so you told me you had feelings for me and then took the first out you saw. Maybe you were eventually going to tell me about this, maybe you weren't but I don't want to argue about it anymore."

Lois crossed her arms angrily, "Oh would you stop being so patronizing? You have no idea what it was like having to make the decision I had to make that night. I had my reasons for not telling you about this and the number one reason is that I know you well enough to know that if I had told you I was pregnant that night, you would have stayed and your father would have died. End of story."

He shook his head, voice rising as he responded to her theory, "Right, because you had so much evidence to back up your theory that I would have stayed."

He crossed his arms and continued, "No, deep down inside I bet you just didn't want to tell me and that conversation you overheard gave you the perfect out. I'm actually shocked you told my parents at all while you were making decisions about who you deemed worthy to tell. Hell, I'm surprised you even had the baby."

Lois's hand slapped him hard even before she realized it had left her side, a crack accompanying the sound of her hand making contact with his cheek.

"Don't you ever say that again," she said through gritted teeth, tears filling her eyes as the pain in her hand caught up to match the pain in her heart at his last words. "As much as we fought, Clark, as much as I knew that we were a lost cause, I would never have done that. Never."

They locked eyes, anger flowing between them as they stared at each other.

"What is happening over here?!" the door behind them opened to reveal Chloe, looking concerned. "I could hear you both from across the hallway. Now what….Lois, what happened to your hand?"

Lois broke eye contact with Clark and looked down, the pain that was emanating from it making sense as she saw the awkward position it was now in. She tried to move it but cried out as pain shot through her wrist.

"Don't do that. It's broken," Clark murmured quietly, having quickly x-rayed it to confirm his words.

"Oh, and you would know," she mumbled under her breath, knowing for a fact that he would.

Chloe rolled her eyes at the behavior her best friend and her cousin were indulging themselves in, "Oh for God's sake, if it's broken, you need to go to the hospital and I can't take you because I'm watching Elizabeth."

"It's alright, Chloe. I'll call a cab," Lois shook her head and bit her lip to try to stop the pain.

"No, you're not. I'm taking you," Clark spoke up from beside her.

"You are?"

He met her eyes stonily, "Yes, I am. We're not done here."

Chloe watched them from across the room, "That's a good idea."

Lois whirled around and shot Chloe an 'are you crazy?' look.

"Oh, and while you're at it," Chloe continued, a smirk now rising on her face, "You're also going to work out your differences because I'm not letting Elizabeth be exposed to this...dysfunctional relationship of yours. Work it out or I'm confiscating your daughter until further notice."

And with that, she left the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

Lois looked despondently down at her wrist and tried to move it again, an excruciating shot of pain running up her arm as a reward.

Clark put a hand on her arm to get her to stop and sighed in frustration. This night was just getting better and better…

"C'mon," he said finally, reaching around to the coffee table and handing Lois her purse before picking her up. "Let's get you to the hospital."

"Put me down. What are you…." She trailed off as she felt herself begin to float and looked down to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"Taking you to the hospital," Clark grumbled as he reached with one hand and opened her balcony door. He took off….

Lois' eyes widened as they stepped off her balcony and began to move in the air, "What…?! Since when do you fly?!"

"Since almost 4 years ago," he finished darkly, falling silent enough that Lois didn't bother picking their fight up where they had left it off.

There would be time enough for that later.


	6. Part 5

**Part 5**

**4 Years Ago**

Clark lowered himself gently to the ground inside the Fortress of Solitude and wearily made his way toward the sleeping area. Indeed, he had been training for the past 4 days with no sleep.

Beyond that, it hadn't been so bad. Over the past few days he had gone through the process of learning to fly-no easy task-before moving onto other skills that he hadn't been aware he was capable of. While the others had been relatively easy to learn, flying had had to be taught in three steps, the first to learn how to find that part of himself without losing Clark Kent and reverting back to Kal-El, the second to focus himself enough to do it, and the third to perfect the skill. He wasn't that great at it yet but Jor-El had assured him that that would come with practice.

He drew a deep breath through his nose as he entered the hidden room Jor-El had shown him when he arrived and began to remove his clothes. Finally down to his boxers, he flopped down on the bed and groaned as his body sank into what felt like the plushest mattress ever created.

He had no idea how these things had come to be at the fortress but at this point, he didn't care. One handed, he reached down and pulled the blankets up to cover his body, settling himself under them before finally closing his eyes…

He opened them ten minutes later, his brain too busy to let him sleep despite the weariness of his body. Visions of the way he had left Smallville, pushed firmly to the back of his mind by the training he had been so busy with, suddenly flooded him and he had to close his eyes tightly to stop it from overwhelming him completely.

God, he missed her…

The fact of the matter was that Lois, despite her physical distance from him at the moment, hadn't really left his side since he had left her in his bed four days ago. Even now, lying in bed in the middle of the Arctic, he felt her presence and he could conclusively say that it had been the only thing that had helped keep his sanity since his training had begun.

He sighed and ran a frustrated hand across his face before lowering it again. It didn't matter how he felt right now, how much he cared about her; there was no way he could communicate with her and he had to get used to that fact. Jor-El had outlined the conditions of his time away from Smallville perfectly clearly after all. Phone calls, letters, even emails were strictly forbidden unless offered to him by someone and even then, they had to be kept short. Moreover, Jor-El had 'encouraged' Clark to limit these incidents to only include his parents in order that he not cloud his judgment or his opinions on what he was to see and do.

Clark's mind understood this concept. To really learn about something meant that a fair amount of concentration had to go into the process and he could see how constantly counting the minutes until he could call home would be somewhat of a distraction.

His heart, however, didn't understand at all. He hadn't wanted to leave her four mornings ago and if his father's life hadn't of been hanging in the balance, they probably would be there still.

He sighed, and rolled over onto his back, staring up at the icy ceiling above him. If he concentrated, he could almost imagine that she was in bed with him now and that, he realized, was unexpectedly comforting. Lois had, in a very short time, become a lot to him and he didn't know how he was going to go for years without talking to her, or even arguing with her. While their new relationship had originally come as a surprise to him, it had evolved into something more fulfilling than anything he had ever experienced in his life.

And, thankfully, that final evening before he left had proven to him that it wasn't just a one-sided thing like he had been left to believe after their first evening in the closet.

Clark closed his eyes and rolled over on his side, sleep beginning to creep up around him as he mentally re-assured himself that Lois wouldn't be too angry when she found out why he had to go away the way he had had to. He wasn't going to fool himself into believing that there wouldn't be anger or hurt on her part but he comforted himself with the fact that her feelings for him would probably provide a buffer to whatever reaction she would have. Telling her before he left would have been the most logical way of getting around this reaction, but there hadn't of been time for that. Between their short chat and the multiple times they had made love to each other before falling asleep, revealing his secret had been the last thing on his mind.

Besides, there would be plenty of time to tell her all about his heritage by the time he returned…

**Present Day**

...and that day had apparently arrived.

He turned his head towards Lois and sighed as he watched her argue with the doctor on how to properly put her cast on.

Some things, it appeared, could not be changed with time.

"Lois," he broke in abruptly, "Let the doctor do his job."

She fell silent and glared at him.

The doctor raised an eyebrow in Clark's direction and cleared his voice uncomfortably, "I only got some of the details from the nurse that admitted you but how did this happen again?"

Clark didn't answer, his mind going blank as he tried to come up with an explanation.

"I fell down," Lois said defensively, cutting into the silence and effectively closing the mouth that Clark had begun to open. "I tripped on the way home after we went out to dinner and stupidly put my hands out to catch my fall. Unfortunately, the sidewalk won that particular battle and I broke my wrist."

"Right," the doctor finished up with her cast and picked up the clipboard with Lois' information on it. He raised his head after a moment to look between the couple in front of him. "The nurse also told me you two were arguing rather heatedly when you came in. Would you mind telling me why?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but we were arguing about our daughter," Lois responded, an angry hint to her voice. "And why do you care anyway?"

"I'm just doing my job, Ms. Lane. When someone comes in with signs of domestic abuse, we start wondering if how the patient says their injuries happened actually happened."

"Wait," Clark piped up, more than a little insulted, "You can't honestly think that I did this to her, can you? Because I didn't."

The doctor shrugged, "Well I don't know. Ms. Lane here has a broken wrist and it's broken in such a way that someone's hand twisting it could have made the break. When you came into the E.R. tonight, you claim you were arguing over your daughter. Loudly, I might add. The nurses had to go over to tell you to speak more quietly. Furthermore, for the last hour, you haven't let her out of your sight and she seems to desperately want to get out of here. All signs point to domestic abuse. So tell me, Mr. Kent, did you do this?"

"Hey!" Lois answered for Clark, hopping off the examination table she had been sitting on, "Clark didn't have anything to do with this. I told you, I fell down and my wrist caught me. It broke in the process. You say that it could have been broken by someone twisting it, but it's a common type of break. It could have been made by falling on a sidewalk too."

"As for the arguing, that's really none of your business so I'm not even going to try to explain. And the behavior you've noticed?" she looked at the doctor pointedly, "I hate hospitals-for good reason apparently- and Clark has always been overprotective of me. That's just the way he is. Now can we leave? You appear to be done with me so this shouldn't be a problem, I'd imagine."

The doctor looked between the couple, debating with himself whether or not to let them go. The woman had a point about it being a common break but something still struck him as odd; he had never seen such anger and shame boiling beneath the surface of a couple as when the two people in front of him had entered the examination room. Generally, this kind of energy meant that something darker was happening.

It had been the nurses that had originally thought that domestic abuse had been at fault and that had been because of the way the man had been talking to the woman in the waiting room, and vice versa. They had been loud at times, quiet at others but ultimately, they had been emotional. Their story was a plausible one though and it was for this reason that he nodded his head, letting them leave.

Lois broke him out of his thoughts as she turned from the doctor and walked toward the door, "C'mon Clark. I'd like to go home."

Clark nodded, shooting the doctor a disapproving look before following Lois to the door.

She swung it open, her jaw dropping as she saw the two security guards that one of the nurses must have called standing outside the door. She turned back around to stare at the doctor, "You called in back up?"

He shook his head, regretting that he had listened to the nurses when they had told him they suspected that Ms. Lane had had help breaking her wrist. Whether their theory had been true or not, he had made a mistake, "The nurses did."

She narrowed her eyes, "As much as Clark annoys me sometimes, I know he'd never do something like that to me. Now unless you'd like a scathing expose written on the ineptitudes of the hospital system and its ability to properly intercede in domestic abuse cases, I suggest you get them to leave."

The doctor looked over Lois' head and nodded to the cop standing nearest to the doorway, "Everything's alright."

The guard nodded, turning to leave, the other guard following him.

And with that, Clark and Lois walked out the door.

Lois closed the door to her apartment and took her coat off, hanging it up wearily before moving to the living room and sitting down on her couch. She closed her eyes and laid her head back, feeling rather than seeing as the space beside her dipped with Clark's weight.

"Thank you," he murmured after a moment.

She let out chuckle, "What? You really think I would have let you be arrested? I was the one who hit you, remember?"

"Yeah, but you were the one who was hurt."

Lois opened her eyes and let out a humorless laugh, "Okay, stop."

"What?"

"We're not doing this again, alright? I'm done apologizing and so are you. More of that is just going to lead to arguing and I don't know about you, but I think we've done enough of that tonight. I'm liable to hit you again, after all, and that would only lead to another trip to the hospital. With our luck, that doctor who tried to get you arrested will still be there and you know how that'll end up."

Clark met her eyes and laughed, "Yeah, wouldn't want that."

He drew a breath after a moment and shrugged his shoulders, "Okay."

She let out a sigh, "Good."

"So where does this leave us then?"

Lois furrowed her brow, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Clark sat forward. There was no way he was going to leave Lois' apartment tonight without figuring out exactly where they stood…"Where does this leave us? If we're not fighting and we haven't really gotten over everything we've kept from each other, then where does this leave us?"

"I'm not sure," she shook her head, clearing her throat. "Where do you want it to leave us?"

Clark gave her a small smile and shrugged, "At the beginning I guess."

"The beginning?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," he looked at her, "The beginning. At least between you and me. As for Elizabeth….if it's alright with you, I'd like to be able to see her."

"Of course," she murmured. "Anytime you want."

He nodded, knowing that saying what he had to say was going to kill him inside but also knowing that the words had to be said. If he and Lois were ever going to get back what they had lost when he had left, certain sacrifices had to be made. They couldn't be together without being completely honest with each other and the best way to do that was to step back, detach themselves from their emotions, and start from scratch, "In terms of us, I think it's safer for us to just….be friends for now. Or at least try."

"Start with a friendship?" Lois raised an eyebrow. They had been friends for such a short time before they had jumped right into being something more. She had no idea how this was going to work.

But she was willing to try if he was.

"Sure," Lois laughed, shaking her head incredulously, "You know, I don't think we've ever been friends before."

He smiled at her, "Well, briefly. Maybe for a few months. I think it'll be a nice change for us."

Yeah," Lois began to smile, "It will be. So….friends then?"

"Um-hm," Clark sighed, "Friends."


	7. Part 6

**Part 6**

Clark entered the old farmhouse later that night unsure of how to approach his parents about the information they had kept from him.

Despite this worry, he had declined Lois' offer to use Elizabeth's room for the night. Instead, he had opted to fly home, knowing that in seven hours he was going to have to be up, dressed, and back to Metropolis for his first day at the Daily Planet and also knowing that, depending on how this conversation with them went, he might be leaving on bad terms.

Clark ran a hand through his hair and gave mental thanks to whomever was listening that Perry White had responded the way he had to the stories that he had been sending him back from his travels. He hadn't had to, but Perry had been keeping track of-and occasionally printing-Clark's stories for years and had, upon hearing that he was returning to the United States, offered him a job.

He closed his eyes and mentally tried to chase away the anger that still lay at the back of his mind. Those sorts of feelings were not going to help the situation if he wanted this chat with his parents to go as rationally as he wanted it to. They were still his parents after all, and he had no desire to burn any bridges just because they had chosen to keep the knowledge that he and Lois had made them grandparents from him.

With this in mind, he moved into the kitchen and stopped as he saw both the focus of his thoughts sitting at the table, mugs of tea in their hands and expectant looks on their faces.

He met his father's eyes silently before moving to his mother's, seeing plainly the guilt that simmered beneath the surface. He cleared his throat, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Martha and Jonathan exchanged guilty looks, communicating with each other silently.

"We're sorry, Clark. We wanted to," Martha murmured regretfully after a moment of silence, "But it really didn't seem like something we should be telling you over the phone."

He shook his head, "Still, there was time last night to tell me about this…..didn't you think I had the right to know?"

"And what would you have done about it?" Jonathan leaned forward, setting his mug on the table gently. "It wouldn't have done you any good to know when you were traveling; it would have only made you feel guilty that you weren't at home. We didn't want that for you, especially considering what Jor-El wanted you to accomplish. As for last night…Lois wanted to be the one to tell you."

"You still should have said something," Clark fought to keep his voice from rising. He was sick of other people making decisions about his life. Yes, they might have been logical decisions, but that didn't mean he didn't have the right to decide whether or not to travel down the path that they would take him. "I don't care how I would have felt or even what Lois wanted; I deserved to know that I had a daughter. From now on, I make the decisions concerning my life, alright? No half-truths, no more cover-ups. I want to hear it all and I don't want you to shelter me from it; I've seen too much for that to be possible."

Watching their son, Jonathan and Martha simply nodded, not knowing what to say to add to their earlier apology. In reality, there was really nothing TO say; the past was in the past and the only important part was that he knew now what he had missed in his years away.

Clark walked toward the table and pulled up a chair, sinking down into it wearily before letting out a short laugh, "A little warning would have been nice at least. It was the last thing I was expecting. Did you, even once in the past 4 years, even think about telling me that I had a daughter?"

"Lois wanted to be the one to tell you, Son," Jonathan sighed. "We're sorry we couldn't have told you sooner."

"Right. You're all sorry," Clark let out a short sigh, running a hand through his hair as he tried to get a grip on his frustration. The fact of the matter was that, even if he had known, it probably wouldn't have made a difference; he would still have had to go on his trip, and he still would have missed the first 3 and a half years of his daughter's life.

Regardless, he would have liked to have known….

For now, he put these feelings aside. They would do him no good at the moment.

"Well, she did tell me. Eventually. I kind of figured it out myself," Clark shook his head, placing his elbows on the table. One hand came up to touch the beard that he still hadn't shaved off. A small smile rose on his face as Elizabeth came to mind. "It was a shock but….Dad, she's gorgeous. And smart and just…perfect…"

He trailed off, unsure of how to describe what falling in love in an instant felt like. She was his daughter and he had yet to really get to know her but in that first moment that he had realized who she was, he had loved her.

Jonathan smiled at the look on his son's face, knowing that the pent up anger that Clark was feeling in regards to the secret would eventually come out, but content that today was apparently not that day. Despite feeling like Lois did the right thing in not telling Clark that she was pregnant the night he left, he still felt like they should have told him later. Then again, Jonathan had no idea what kind of psychological harm that would have played on Clark, guilty as he had been feeling about leaving already. In the long run, maybe this had been the right decision…

He cleared his throat, "So the first meeting went well then?"

Clark nodded, his anger put aside for a moment as his mind dwelled on his daughter, "Fairly well. Elizabeth seemed to take the news better than I did though."

"She's known about you for years, Clark," Martha shook her head, "It's no wonder she's used to the idea of you. Every time she's at the farm she looks through the photo albums with your father and I."

Clark mentally processed this information, "Does she come here often?"

"Oh yes," Jonathan smiled gently, "She and Lois come to Smallville at least once a month."

He nodded again, glad to hear that his daughter had at least known her grandparents in the years that he had been gone.

"How is Lois?" Martha asked, after a moment of silence had passed.

Clark grimaced, remembering how he had left her, "She's alright. She was expecting me but…"

"But?" Martha prompted.

"But it was still a shock," he answered defensively. He took in the now suspicious looks on his parents faces, "Don't worry, it went fine."

"Clark," his mother said warningly, "What happened?"

He sighed, knowing that his mother wouldn't let him leave the kitchen table until she heard what had happened in Metropolis, "The usual."

Jonathan caught his son's eye questioningly, eyebrow raised.

"We argued," Clark answered, his voice holding a distinct edge of guilt.

"Well that's understandable," Martha said quietly, "I mean, Lois DID keep Elizabeth from you for all this time…"

Clark shook his head, "No. I….we both said some pretty awful things to each other."

The room fell silent a moment and then…

"So where does this leave you and Lois, Son?" His father leaned forward, concern on his face. He knew, at least partially, that Clark's feelings for Lois were deeper than even he would admit and, from the last few years of knowing Lois, he had deducted that they weren't one sided feelings either.

Clark cleared his throat uncomfortably and averted his eyes from his parents, "We decided to just be friends for now."

"Friends?" Chloe deadpanned incredulously, and stopped dead in the sidewalk outside the Daily Planet.

"Yeah," Lois raised an eyebrow at her cousin's tone of voice. "What's wrong with that?"

Chloe rolled her eyes before looking at her pointedly, "Are you kidding me? Where do I begin? Twenty bucks says you're sleeping with him again by Christmas."

"Chloe!" Lois's jaw dropped, "We made a mature decision last night."

"And you're being stupid. Again. I mean, tell me honestly Lois. Did your relationship end in such a way that you could ever call yourselves simply friends?"

Lois shook her head as they began walking again, "I thought you would have been happy that we're finally doing this right."

"And I am, really," Chloe nodded to the security guard at the front desk as they walked past and headed towards the elevators. "It's just that I think you're both fooling yourselves if you think that being friends is the way to fix your relationship. You two have deeper issues to deal with that can't be solved as friends."

"It is, and we can," Lois retorted defensively.

Chloe rolled her eyes as they reached the elevators, pressing the 'up' button for both of them-mindful of Lois' broken wrist-before turning to her cousin pointedly, "Have you or have you not been having sex dreams about Clark Kent for the past week and did you or did you not have these same dreams for months during your pregnancy?"

Lois went bright red.

Chloe nodded and stepped into the now opened elevator, "That's what I thought."

Lois let out a frustrated sigh and followed her cousin, all the while trying to stop the blush that she could still feel burning her face, "Chloe…."

Chloe crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow in Lois' direction, "Did you have one last night?"

Lois pursed her lips, trying not to drift back to the earth-shattering orgasm she had woken up to this morning and failing miserably. She had even managed to jostle her wrist enough to warrant taking painkillers this morning but it had been worth it, "Yes but that's not the point."

"Uh-huh," Chloe went silent, simply looking at her cousin as if trying to assess what her true feelings were regarding Clark. Years of knowing her cousin had taught her that what Lois felt towards Clark was more than she was giving it credit for. At the end of the day, despite their harsh words towards each other, Chloe knew that her cousin and her best friend were half in love with each other.

A hearty chuckle broke out of her as she imagined what the next few months would bring, "Oh this is going to be fun."

Lois looked at her indignantly, "And just what do you mean by that?"

"I mean," Chloe shrugged her shoulders, her laugh downgraded into a smirk now. "That I'm going to enjoy watching the two of you re-discover what you had."

"What we had," Lois piped up hotly, shaking her head, "Was sex and then feelings that I'm not entirely sure were real. Hardly the basis for a relationship and certainly not something I would want either of us to fall back into until we've cleared the air."

Lois cleared her throat and adjusted her purse on her shoulder, crossing her arms before looking at her cousin pointedly.

Chloe nodded, humoring Lois for the moment, "So what are you doing about Elizabeth then?"

"What do you mean what am I doing about Elizabeth? I'm going to do exactly what I said I would; she's Clark's daughter too and I'm not about to keep her from him. End of story."

"Right," Chloe murmured, trying her best to stifle the smile that continued to turn up the corners of her mouth, "End of story."

"Chloe, I'm serious," Lois re-iterated, stepping out of the elevator as it came to their floor and opened.

"Oh I know you are, Lois," Chloe shrugged, "And I admire the fact that you believe that your life isn't going to change now that Clark's back in it."

"Well," Lois led the way through the main floor of the Daily Planet to where she and Chloe's desks were located. Despite no longer working together, they had still managed to be close to each other. She set her briefcase down on the desk and pulled out her chair before continuing, "I'm really not expecting it to."

"And how do you expect that to happen?"

Lois took off her suit jacket and set it on the back of her chair before sitting down at her desk, watching as Chloe did the same, "Chloe, he's spending time with Elizabeth, not me. If anything, it'll be her life that changes and even then, I doubt it. She spends enough time in Smallville as it is. Now that Clark's back, yes, I'm expecting that time to double, at least, but that's probably the only difference. He and I are friends, not lovers and we'll be treating each other as such."

"Uh-huh," Chloe leaned back in her chair, "Do you have sex dreams about all your friends then?"

Lois opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Perry's voice, calling her into his office from across the room. She stood up, glaring at Chloe as she passed her desk.

She let out a calming sigh as she approached the office, self-consciously placing her free hand over the cast on her right wrist. Perry was not going to be pleased that his star reporter was going to be unable to type anything for the next few weeks….

"You wanted to see me, Chief?"

"Lois," Perry turned from his position in the middle of the office and smiled, "And how are you toda…what the heck happened to your arm?"

She shook her head, not wanting to get into the details with her editor. It would only mean she'd have to lie, "I fell down. Caught myself from hitting the sidewalk with my hand and…broke my wrist."

"I see," Perry murmured uneasily. "I'm assuming this means you can't type?"

"Not to worry, Chief. I have that voice recognition software Jimmy installed on my computer three months ago. Getting all of my stories typed up shouldn't be a problem."

"Still," a small smile began to break out on Perry's face. "It's a good thing that you're getting a partner then."

He motioned to the man sitting in the chair in the corner behind her, "You and he can do the writing, but he can do the typing."

Lois turned, ready to welcome her new partner (mindful that her attitude now could spell more vacation time later) and the smile she had been building abruptly dropped, "Clark. What are you doing here?"


	8. Part 7

**Part 7**

Clark furrowed his eyebrow, "Perry was nice enough to give me a job. You work here too?"

Lois nodded, in shock, "Yeah. For about 3 years now."

"Wait," Perry put a hand up, effectively cutting them off, "You two know each other?"

"You could say that," Lois murmured, hesitating slightly. Clark was her friend first and foremost and she didn't want him losing his job or be assigned to a different, less important area of the Planet simply because he happened to have had a daughter with her.

"Yeah," Clark broke in, averting his eyes from Perry's in an effort not to betray his history with Lois. The closer they became, the easier it was going to be to be able to spend time with his daughter. Lois had told him he had full access to her but the fact of the matter was that Elizabeth lived with her mother and he, for all intents and purposes, was an outsider right now. The bottom line was that, the better his relationship was with Lois, the better it would be with Elizabeth. "We met in Smallville."

"I see," Perry looked between the two people in front of him, a small knowing smile on his face, "And how well did you two 'know' each other."

"We were just friends," both replied simultaneously, the room falling silent a moment later, their words hanging in the air as they looked at each other.

"Uh-huh," Perry said dryly. He was willing to bet that, from the answer they had just given him, that they had been much more than simply friends. He cleared his throat and looked at Lois, "Is this going to be a problem? I can always give Kent here to Sullivan."

He looked at Clark, "Unless you knew Sullivan in Smallville too?"

"Chief," Lois cut in, "We'll be fine."

She turned toward the door, "C'mon Clark. I'll show you around."

"Don't forget, Lois," Perry called after them, "The Mayor's having a press conference later today and you said you'd cover it."

"When did I say that?" Lois protested from the doorway.

"Last week."

"Did I really? Can't Chloe do it?"

Perry nodded, "Yes, really, and no, Sullivan can't do it. She's at the Metropolis Business Convention covering Lex Luthor's latest 'acquisition.'"

Lois froze in the doorway, "Lex Luthor? You sent her to cover a Lex Luthor story?"

"Don't worry Lois, she'll be fine. It's nothing like her last story on him."

"It better not be," she shook her head, a frown on her lips. She drew a breath through her nose and came to a decision, "Fine, we'll cover the story but I'm expecting more vacation time out of this."

"How's an extra week sound to you?"

A reluctant smile replaced the frown, "Sounds good, Chief."

"Good. Now get out of my office," Perry said succinctly. "You and Kent have a story to cover."

And with that, Clark and Lois left the office, closing the door behind them.

"So this is the 'bullpen,'" Lois motioned around the room stiffly once they had stopped next to her desk. She closed her eyes for a moment, her own voice ringing back in her ears and sounding harsh even to her. She patted the desk next to hers and changed her tone, "And this is your desk."

Clark smiled half-heartedly, touching the wood gingerly before taking his hand back, having noticed the difference in Lois' voice. She was as shocked as he was that fate had thrown them together like this, "It's nice."

Lois looked at him and raised an eyebrow. If there was one thing she had learned about Clark Kent in the period of time that she had lived in Smallville, it was when he was keeping something to himself, "But? What's wrong Clark?"

He shook his head, "Nothing. This is just a shock, you know? I mean, I didn't know that you worked here, let alone that you were the one I had been assigned to work with. I'm sorry…."

Lois shrugged and gave him a half smile, "I didn't expect it either but…here we are. As for how I came to be here, well, it's a long story."

He nodded, "I'm sure it is."

He cleared his throat, "So…..why didn't you tell Perry about the fact that….."

"You're the father of my child?" she crossed her arms before meeting his eyes. "Well, first off, it's none of his business."

"And?"

Lois sighed, not really certain how to answer the question Clark was asking of her. Truth be told, she wasn't certain she knew why she hadn't told Perry about her relationship with Clark. She cleared her throat and did her best to find a suitable answer, "And I didn't want you to be switched into sports or something. That's way more low key than what Perry paired us up to cover. It would be a lost opportunity for you to be bumped down to something like that."

Clark shrugged his shoulders and looked at her intently, trying to gauge if she was telling the truth. He knew how guilty she was over not telling him about Elizabeth and, while he felt that at least some of it was valid, he didn't want her taking pity on him and 'repaying' him by keeping important information from Perry. He started his next line of questioning slowly, "So it's not because you're embarrassed by it?"

"Clark," Lois tilted her head towards him in a no-nonsense gesture. She was feeling a lot of things right now, but embarrassment was not one of them, "I thought we had gone over this. As much as it may have made our relationship….difficult, I've never regretted it because it brought Elizabeth into my life. And no, I'm not embarrassed that you happen to be her father. If anything, I'm proud."

"Proud?" Clark raised his left eyebrow.

"Yes, proud," she mimicked his expression. "Don't look so surprised. You're smart, well spoken most of the time, brave-although sometimes to the point of stupidity, and, if that isn't enough, fairly attractive. If I had to do it again, knowing that I would become pregnant, I think I'd still…"

"…do it again?" he finished for her, a grin on his face.

Lois blushed as he threw her double entendre back in her face and nodded, "Yes. I would."

They fell silent for a moment before Lois came back to reality. She mentally chastised herself for flirting with Clark, even for a moment; there was no way she was going to prove Chloe's bet wrong and restrain herself if she kept on behaving in this manner.

Looking for a distraction, she looked at her watch, "We've got to go. The press conference starts in half an hour."

Clark simply nodded, a look of disappointment briefly flashing across his face before he stood up, ready to go. For a moment, he had been sure they had been getting somewhere…

Lois caught the look and cringed, feeling stupid for moving into territory they weren't ready for and getting both of their hopes up. They were partners now and that meant that they had to stay firmly behind a professional line; they could be friends, but nothing more.

Right now anyways.

"OH!" Lois cried in remembrance as she shoved her date book into her purse and put the bag over her shoulder. "Before I forget, do you want to come to dinner tonight? Elizabeth spent all morning talking about you and….we'd like it if you'd join us."

A smile came over Clark's face, "She did?"

"Um-hm," Lois returned the smile. "You made quite the impression on her."

"Well, she made quite the impression on me, too. Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," she nodded, walking with Clark towards the elevators. "If I wasn't, I wouldn't be asking. Besides, I'm not ashamed to say that I'm more than a little afraid of Elizabeth sometimes. When she wants something…"

"That would be the Lane in her," Clark smirked.

"Hey!" Lois protested, reaching out with her good hand and pressing the 'down' button for the elevator. "She could get it from you."

He shook his head, "Lois, I think you've got to face it. She may look like me, but she's all you when it comes to personality."

"And you learned all of this in three hours of her company last night?"

"He's always been observant."

Lois spun around to find Chloe standing behind her, "Chloe. How long have you been standing there?"

"Just a moment," she shrugged, "Perry said you two were headed out to cover the Mayor's press conference?"

"Yeah," Lois nodded her head, "And he told me he sent you out to cover Lex's latest 'project.'"

"Um-hm," Chloe responded carefully, knowing how nervous Lex made Lois. "It was over faster than I expected though."

She looked between Clark and Lois, remembering the real reason she had tracked Lois down when she had gotten done relating to Perry how the Convention had gone. Perry, as always, had been a font of amusing information and today's had had her keeled over in laughter. It seemed that Lois' intentions to keep she and Clark's friendship strictly a friendship were going to face with some opposition. Constantly being around him was going to drive her cousin insane and she was going to enjoy every second of it.

"So..."

Lois rolled her eyes, rousing her inner strength to cut off her cousin before she launched into an impromptu game of 20 Questions, "Yes, Clark and I are partners now. Yes, we're still doing the friend thing, and yes, we're going to have to wait to talk about this later tonight. Clark and I have a half an hour to get across town."

Chloe opened her mouth to say something but Lois silenced her with a look and a mouthed 'Later' before stepping into the elevator that had opened seconds before.

"Bye Chloe," Clark followed Lois into the elevator, leaving a smiling Chloe watching them.


	9. Part 8

**Part 8**

Lois handed Clark a glass of red wine and watched as he handed the glass of juice in his free hand to their daughter before heading back to the kitchen, smiling as she realized that even if she had wanted his attention, she wasn't going to get it tonight.

Indeed, after less than 24 hours of knowing her, Elizabeth had Clark wrapped around her little finger and Clark was unabashedly letting her know it.

"Do you need some help?" Clark called after her, lifting his head up from the book he had been reading to their daughter.

"No, thanks," her smile broadened as she turned to look over at them. "The lasagna's nearly finished cooking and I just need to throw the salad together. It shouldn't take too long."

Clark raised a skeptic eyebrow, "Are you sure? You're doing this one handed tonight; I could always put the book down and…."

"Daddy, no! We're just getting to the good part!" Elizabeth cried out in protest, bouncing herself a bit on the couch for emphasis.

Lois watched as Clark's focus switched momentarily back to the little girl sitting next to him, and a smile that she recognized as one of pleased amusement flashed across his face. She knew without him saying anything how much hearing himself referred to as 'Daddy' by Elizabeth made him happy. She lowered suddenly tear filled eyes and quickly reined her emotions in; seeing her guilt would only get them arguing again and she didn't want that. She cleared her throat instead and forced her emotions into a mental box to be opened later after he had left, "Yeah, 'Daddy.' You're just getting to the good part."

He raised his eyes to meet hers and she shot him a knowing smile, "All I had to do was put the lasagna I had in the freezer in the oven and now I'm going to go empty a bag of pre-mixed salad into a bowl. I've got it covered, Clark."

Clark picked up the book, "Only if you're sure…."

She nodded, "I am. Besides, keeping Elizabeth company is a job in itself."

He smiled gently in return and looked down at Elizabeth, "Well then. Looks like we'll have time to finish the story after all."

Elizabeth sat up and started to crawl onto his lap, making absolutely sure that he wasn't going anywhere, "Good. Mommy doesn't do the voices like you do."

Lois raised an eyebrow and looked briefly back at Clark before moving completely back into the kitchen area. Elizabeth was right; he DID do better voices than she did. She picked up the aforementioned bag of salad and sighed. It was a good thing Elizabeth was keeping Clark busy actually; she was fairly certain she would have been poor company right now.

Chloe's assignment had shaken her up more than she would care to admit.

She shook her head as she grasped the plastic with her hurt hand and used the scissors she had taken out earlier to cut open the bag, dumping its contents into a bowl and placing the wooden tongs her sister had brought back from one of her trips into it, all the while trying to put the memories of Chloe's last encounter with Lex Luthor aside.

In the end, she failed.

**Three Years Ago**

"Lois, what are you doing in the office? It's your day off," Perry White came up to Lois as she sat at her desk, six month old Elizabeth looking around wide-eyed next to her, sitting in her carrier.

"I know," she looked up and flashed Perry a smile. "I just had to pick up my notes on that story you gave me the other day."

"The Rose Festival piece?" her editor-in-chief raised an eyebrow. "Lois, you've got a week. Relax."

"I know," she sighed, leaning back in her chair, "But you were so good to give me a job a month ago that…."

"Lois, your writing is good. That's the only justification I needed in hiring you."

She shook her head, "I know but…"

"No buts about it," Perry crossed his arms. "Your writing has a fresh edge to it that the readers love and so do I. Besides all that, it's not like I've given you anything that big to deal with. We're in a trial period, remember? When you get past the first six months of working here, then I'll see what I can do about bumping you up to some serious stories like Sullivan's working on."

"I know. And it's not as if I'm expecting it at this point. I've only been here four weeks…" she shook her head, remembering the seemingly random way in which she had been hired; Perry had accidentally picked up one of the stories Chloe had been proof reading for one of the online journalism classes Lois was taking and, when Lois had dropped by the office to pick it up from her cousin, she had been informed that he had loved what he had read and would she be interested in dropping off a resume and a portfolio.

The rest had fallen into place from there. Perry had loved the rest of her work and before Lois could blink an eye, she had found herself working part-time at the Daily Planet.

"So what are you doing here then?" Perry looked down into the carrier, a grin breaking out on his face as Elizabeth smiled at him. "May I?"

She shrugged, looking up briefly at her boss before going back to her notes. "Sure. She loves to be held."

"And I love to hold her," her boss' voice took on a different tone as he unbuckled the baby from her seat and lifted her into his arms. "It's been a long time since Richard and Jerry were this small."

Lois eyed her daughter and her boss out of the corner of her eye and smirked, "No news on the grandchild front then?"

Perry shook his head, "Jerry and his wife are thinking about their careers right now and Richard is still single."

"I see," Lois began to gather up the papers in front of her before standing up. "Have you seen Chloe today?"

Perry looked up, "Hmmm? Oh yeah, Sullivan came in this morning and then left to cover one of Lex Luthor's press conferences. She should be back any moment."

Lois raised an eyebrow, "Since when does she cover Lex Luthor stories?"

"Since I send her out to cover them," he looked at her pointedly. "It was either her or Lawrence and Lawrence was busy this morning. Besides, Sullivan's working on a piece about Lex Luthor right now and as far as I'm concerned, the juicier it is, the better. If it requires her going to a few more press conferences than usual, than so be it."

"Well, do you know when she's going to be back then? Elizabeth and I haven't seen her much in the past few days and we were hoping to take her for lunch," Lois crossed her arms, uncrossing them and reaching for her daughter who, perhaps sensing her mother's impatient mood, began to fuss.

Perry shot her an annoyed look for seemingly triggering the baby's suddenly foul mood and handed her Elizabeth, "You know, you've never volunteered information about her father but whoever he is, he certainly didn't volunteer many genes that have to do with personality; if she were anymore like you she'd be a clone. As for where your cousin is and when she's going to be back, she'll be back when the press conference is over."

Sensing that Lois was not going to let this go, he turned and began to walk away.

"But Chief? When will that be?" Lois called after him, adjusting Elizabeth on her hip.

"Any moment now, I'm sure," Perry called back, continuing to walk the short distance to his office.

Lois let a breath out through her nose, frustrated. She looked down at the baby on her hip, now playing with the necklace the General had given her on her last birthday, "Just what HAS your Aunt Chloe gotten herself into this time?"

**Present Day**

"What happened next?" Clark broke into her story, a mug of tea sitting in front of him. Lois had made it halfway through dinner before he had verbally beaten exactly what was bothering her out into the open. Now that Elizabeth had gone to bed, he was hoping that she could tell him the rest of the story.

Apparently it had been too dark a story for an almost four year old.

Lois cleared her throat and leaned back in her chair. She looked up from her own cup of tea and sighed, "Something bad."

**Three Years Ago**

Lois entered the hospital room slowly, inwardly preparing herself for what the doctor's had warned her were going to be visually shocking injuries on her cousin.

She had been right to question where Chloe had been when she and Elizabeth had shown up at the office that afternoon. Now, a mere five hours after that and only three after Chloe had been found unconscious in an alleyway in downtown Metropolis, here she was.

And so was Chloe.

Lois felt tears threaten to fall as she took her first look at her cousin. One side of her face was completely black and blue, her arm had been broken in two places and according to the doctor's, three of her ribs had been broken and it was only through some miracle that her lungs hadn't been punctured by one of them.

She sat down at Chloe's bedside and took her hand into her own, sighing as she ran over what had happened to put her in this position.

Or who.

Perry had said something about her doing a story on Lex Luthor and she was fairly certain that, in that case, he most definitely had something to do with her mysterious 'accident.'

"Lois?" Chloe's voice cracked painfully as she tried to open her eyes.

"Chloe," Lois leaned forward and breathed out a sigh of relief. "How are you feeling?"

Chloe let out a short chuckle, "Probably as good as I look right now."

Lois smiled, "You don't look so bad, Chlo."

Chloe gave her a indulgent look, or as close as she could with her face the way it was, "Yeah right. I'm sure I look like one giant bruise right now. I certainly feel that way. Next time I get beat up, I'm going to make sure I tell them to leave my face alone; I'm not going to be able to go out in public for weeks."

Lois shook her head, amazed that Chloe could be so glib about this situation, "About that….what happened?"

Chloe laughed, at first humorlessly and then painfully as the jostling of her rib cage from her laughter made her hurt, "I'm doing a story on a Luthor. What do you think happened?"

"So this was a warning then?" Lois said after a moment, trying to keep the anger out of her voice. Chloe didn't need that right now.

"Well, he couldn't exactly kill me, now could he? If he had, people would have asked too many questions. This looked like a mugging, not a threat. It's just random enough not to be traced back to him but a strong enough message to make me drop the story."

"You're not planning on dropping it, are you?" Lois sat back, her anger coming out now at Chloe's suggestion. "That's what he wants."

"I know," Chloe shook her head, wincing as it protested the movement and making a vow to herself that she wouldn't try to move anything else right now; it was too painful, "And normally I would agree with you but I know next time it's going to be worse than simply being beaten up."

"But…."

"No, Lois. Just…..drop it, okay? I nearly died once because of a Luthor's attempt to keep me quiet and I don't know about you but I like being alive. It's not worth it."

"Well obviously it is, otherwise he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to keep you quiet. We can't let him get away with this!"

"Lois, yes we can," Chloe shut her eyes for a moment, "He knows where I live, who I live with and…..if anything happened to you or Elizabeth because I couldn't drop a story, I don't know what I'd do. I'm not that brash teenager anymore…it's time to realize that my actions have consequences."

"A good lesson," Lois crossed her arms. "And I think it's time that Lex learned it too."

Chloe opened her eyes, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I'm helping you with this. I just can't see him get away with whatever it is you're finding information about right now and hiring someone to beat you up the way he did."

"Lois, didn't you hear what I said earlier? He knows where I live, and if he didn't hesitate to put me in the hospital, I'm sure he wouldn't have any problems putting you or Elizabeth here too."

"I'm aware of that," Lois met her cousin's eyes. "But I'm still helping you."

"Lois…."

"No buts," she shook her head. "He's not getting away with this…"

**Present Day**

"…and the rest, as they say, is history," Lois said grimly from across the table, taking the final sip of her tea. "I knew that only the people I had personally told knew that you were Elizabeth's father, and Lex was certainly not one of them, so I called my father in Washington and he was kind enough to donate a few of his boys to take Elizabeth to your parent's place in Smallville, and then provide an armed guard around the farm. As for Chloe, she was out of commission for a week or two and during that time, I quietly went about finishing the story for her. When it was published we were too in the spotlight for him to do anything to us."

"What was the story about?" Clark asked quietly, processing all that she had told him. No wonder she was so wary about Chloe taking any kind of story about Lex Luthor.

Lois raised an eyebrow, "Environmental policies in LexCorp. Turns out that despite studies clearly showing that the toxicity levels in some of the chemicals he was using to create much of LexCorp's products, he was still allowing them to be used. For years, he had been covering up the fact that a large portion of his staff in the factories where they were being used were having to be treated for cancer and other diseases. Chloe had begun work on uncovering what was happening to these victims, Lex found out and…."

"Stopped her," Clark finished her sentence for her.

"Or at least he tried. In the end, we exposed him to the world, a large portion of the men and women in his factories who were sick fought back and he got sued for several hundred million dollars. Chloe and I won a Kerth for that particular story."

"So is that why you..." Clark asked, the inexplicable pieces of how Lois got from being a college drop-out to a top reporter for the Daily Planet falling into place.

Lois smiled ruefully, "Yeah, after we won the Kerth, my fluff piece days were over. Perry paired Chloe and I up at first, just in case the first serious piece was a fluke but it wasn't long before I was out on my own."

Clark shook his head, "I can see why you were so worried about her covering the press conference then."

"Lex doesn't exactly instill confidence that Chloe will be alright around him," she shrugged.

"And with good reason," Clark murmured, looking her in the eye. Clearing his throat, he shot a glance down at his watch.

It was 11 PM.

"Where did the time go?" he stood up.

Lois looked at her own watch, eyes widening as she saw how late her story had taken them into the evening, "Is that the time?"

"Yeah," Clark went to the closet and took out his coat, "I should be getting home. It's late and…."

"We have a story to finish tomorrow morning," Lois finished his sentence for him with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah," he nodded, slipping his coat on, "Thanks for dinner."

"Oh you're welcome," Lois walked towards the door with him, crossing her arms as she did so, "Anytime."

Clark opened the door and moved to leave, stopping at the last moment to turn as if he had forgotten something.

"Clark?"

He furrowed his brow, his next words rushing out of him, "Would it be alright if I took Elizabeth somewhere this weekend?"

Lois' eyes widened in surprise; she hadn't expected him to ask her this until at least a week from now. He had only just met Elizabeth but then again, she knew just how well her daughter could make a person feel like they'd known her forever, "I don't see why not."

"Good," Clark nodded, stepping out the door.

"She likes the zoo."

Clark turned back again, "The zoo?"

"Yeah, the otters are her favorite. Not terribly exotic mind you, but they're her favorites."

He nodded, "The zoo it is then."

"Oh and Clark?" Lois piped up again.

"Yes?"

She cleared her throat, inwardly telling herself that she was saying her next words for her daughter, who was clearly enamored with her father, and not for herself, who shouldn't be as enamored with Clark as much as she was. There was something about watching him with Elizabeth that added a depth to her feelings that she couldn't ignore.

In the end, she bit the bullet and began to speak, "If you wanted to come for dinner again tomorrow night that would be alright too."

He raised an eyebrow, a small smile lifting the corners of his mouth, "Really?"

"Yes, really," she met his eyes, "You're Elizabeth's father and…..I would love it if you were able to spend as much time with her as you want. She lives here with me full time right now and….I just thought I would make it a little easier for the two of you to spend time together. Sharing a meal isn't much but…."

"Lois," he cut in.

She looked at him.

"I would love to. Thank you."

She cleared her throat, "You're welcome. I'll…..see you tomorrow morning then?"

"Tomorrow morning," he murmured and with another short smile, he began to walk down the hall towards the door that would lead him to the roof.

Tomorrow, Lois mentally reminded herself as she closed the apartment door and locked it, she would remember to let him use the balcony.


	10. Part 9

**Part 9**

**Three Months Later**

"I can't believe you did that," Lois hissed quietly as the elevator door closed and they began to move.

Clark's jaw hardened in annoyance. Things had been getting better between he and Lois lately- as parents at least. A month after arriving in Metropolis, he had found an apartment in the city (conveniently located only a block away from Lois and Chloe's building) and since that time, he had been taking a more active role in Elizabeth's life. She even had a room in his apartment.

While his relationship with his daughter had been progressing relatively well, the same couldn't be said about the relationship he had with Lois. As partners at the Planet they had been succeeding but their friendship-or whatever they were calling it this week- was another story.

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, "Lois, she was in trouble. It's not like I could have just let her get hit by that truck."

"I know that," Lois sighed.

He looked at her over the bridge of his glasses-an addition made a month ago after an unfortunate encounter between his heat vision and a chunk of kryptonite had made his vision less than perfect- and crossed his arms, "Then what is your problem?"

"My problem," she murmured, "Is that you could have been seen. We don't even know if you weren't."

"I wasn't," he insisted. "It was two in the morning and no one was around but you."

Lois glared at him and adjusted Elizabeth's hand in her own, the warm presence of her daughter reminding her that she and Clark shouldn't be doing this in front of her. She lowered her voice, "Look, it's not like I think what you did was wrong; I just think that with Lex Luthor in Metropolis, you might try to be a little more careful."

Clark raised a hand to wearily rub the bridge of his nose, "Lois, I'll be fine."

She sent him a disgusted glance, "And you know, that's pretty much what Chloe said when she started investigating him years ago."

He let out a short chuckle.

"I really wish you wouldn't laugh at me. I'm being completely serious here and you're laughing," she looked away from him, listening as his chuckling deepened into full blown laughter, "What?"

He shrugged, trying to get himself under control, "I just think it's cute that you're worried about me."

Lois turned her head and glared at him, "Worried? Me? I'm not worried. I'm just….slightly concerned."

"You're worried," he smirked.

"No I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No I'm not."

"Yes, you are Mommy," Elizabeth piped up, letting go of her mother's hand and reaching for her father's, motioning for him to lift her up.

Clark complied with another smirk.

"Traitor," Lois murmured under her breath as the elevator door opened.

"What time are Grandma and Grandpa coming?" Elizabeth sighed, laying her head down on Clark's shoulder and successfully putting aside the half-argument that her parents had been having.

"Tonight, Honey," Lois reassured her, retrieving her keys from her purse and slipping them into the door.

"And they're staying at Daddy's?"

"Um-hm."

"They won't be able to see me if they're staying there."

Lois opened the door and dropped her bags, "They'll be a block away from us, Elizabeth."

"Not that far at all."

From her father's arms, Elizabeth's eyes widened at the new voice and her mouth curved up into an elated smile, "Grandpa! Grandma!"

Clark let her down immediately; having been present at two other reunions between his parents and his daughter (once during a trip that he and Elizabeth had taken back to Smallville together a month ago, and another when his parents had come to Metropolis to help him move into his new apartment), he knew that hesitation would only succeed in giving him an inadvertent kick to the abdomen as Elizabeth scrambled out of his arms.

He looked at Lois and smiled as out of the corner of his eye he saw his mother pick up Elizabeth and hug her tightly to her.

Lois returned the smile reluctantly, dropping her purse and laptop case on the floor before stepping forward and letting Jonathan and then Martha sweep her up into hugs.

"How was the drive up?" Clark asked, waiting a moment while Lois and Elizabeth finished greeting his parents before doing the same impatiently. Indeed, he was more interested in what they had brought with them rather than their arrivals themselves.

"Alright. We missed rush hour at least," Jonathan crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow in his sons direction knowingly.

"Good," Clark nodded, taking Lois' lead and following her into the living room. "Did you bring it?"

"Of course," Martha lifted Elizabeth onto her lap and sat down.

"And it's not too…."

"No, Clark," Jonathan shook his head, his lips curving upward in amusement.

Lois looked between the elder Kent's and her cryptic partner before sitting down, "Okay, you guys want to tell me what you're talking about or do I have to beat it out of you?"

Clark crossed his arms, "Resorting to physical violence already, Lois?"

She shrugged and crossed her own arms, "Well, whatever works best. Now what are you talking about?"

"Nothing," Clark shook his head. "Just a project I asked Mom to help me with."

"What kind of project?" Lois asked warily.

He stood up again and walked toward his parents bags, propped as they were against the hallway wall, "Just….something I've been thinking about for awhile."

She looked at him a moment before turning to his mother, "Was he this annoying when you found him in that corn field or is this just a skill he's picked up through time?"

"By this I'm assuming the partnership is going well then?" Martha said sarcastically, breaking the light tension that had begun to fill the room. Granted, this tension was the type brought on by banter and not real arguing but it was still tension that Martha Kent would rather her son and the mother of her grandchild didn't indulge in.

She wanted more grandchildren some day, after all and this would never be achieved if the couple in question didn't give into the feelings that she was positive (at least by the way she had caught them looking at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking) they both felt.

"Fine," the partners in question answered in unison, twin looks of frustration on their faces.

Jonathan raised an eyebrow and smirked, "It looks that way. Now what's wrong?"

He leaned back in his seat, fighting the laughter that was threatening to burst forth inadvertently. Chloe, on her last trip to Smallville to visit her Dad, had bumped into the Kents at the Talon and given them the full story on the 'progress' her best friend and cousin had been making in regards to not only their partnership at the Planet, but their relationship with each other and their role as parents to Elizabeth. Chloe had seemed to feel that, while as parents they were doing pretty well-Elizabeth was incredibly well-adjusted and Chloe had yet to, over the course of the last three months, make good on her promise to confiscate their daughter should they decide to continue to argue. Their relationship and their partnership however, were not doing nearly as well.

It seemed like, as usual, both Clark and Lois were still too concerned about other people to worry about their own happiness let alone the full ramifications of what the contents of the package they had brought for Clark would entail for their future. Chloe had known about what Clark was going to do for a month now but Lois had purposely been left out of the loop in order to avoid her worrying.

Indeed, both Martha and Jonathan knew how worried Lois had been for their son since his return. His frequent rescues had, at first, not bothered her but recently (at least according to Chloe) Lois had been driven to behavior they thought she had left behind in Smallville years ago.

"Nothing," Clark piped up, breaking Jonathan out of his thoughts.

Lois let out a snort, "Right Smallville. Nothing."

Martha simply raised an eyebrow and looked Lois in the eye, telling her with one look to be nice, something that she had been finding harder and harder to do lately.

At least when it came to Clark.

Lois breathed deeply out of her nose, looking at Elizabeth, "Sweetie? You want to go play with your toys in the corner for Mommy? Your Daddy and I need to talk to Grandma and Grandpa alone for a moment.'

"Okay Mommy," she nodded, getting off of Martha's lap and doing what Lois had asked.

She looked between the Martha and Jonathan before turning her eyes on the man who had apparently been keeping things from her, "If you call half of our stories in the past month being about the guy who's mysteriously rescuing people nothing, than yes, Clark, nothing is the answer to that question."

Jonathan raised an eyebrow in his son's direction, "Lois, you know that that man is…."

"….Clark. Yes, I know. And that's the problem."

"Problem?" Clark raised a now annoyed voice, "Lois, I'm helping people."

"I know. In front of other people," she leaned forward in her seat, "I know this is something you have to do and I'm not expecting that to change. I just wish you would be a little more careful. You read Chloe's article the other day; Lex is here in Metropolis and he's not going anywhere. Not only that, but if my sources are correct, he's keeping an eye on Chloe and myself right now because of the first article we wrote about him. How long do you think it'll be before he starts keeping an eye on you too?"

Clark opened his mouth to respond but Lois cut him off.

"No," she continued, "I refuse to stand idly be while you expose your powers to the world so carelessly. How long do you think it'll be after he puts two and two together that he gets four and continues onto five with Elizabeth?"

She sighed, "I love my daughter way more than the city of Metropolis, Clark, so figure out a way to do this anonymously."

A moment of silence passed by before Clark, more chastised than he'd ever been in his entire life, cleared his throat nervously, "Well Lois, it's funny that you brought that up."


	11. Part 10

**Part 10**

One Week Later

"So he just….told you? Just like that?"

Lois took a spoonful of ice cream and swallowed before answering, "Yeah, just like that. It was…." She paused on her way back for another spoonful. "Wait. You knew what he was planning?"

"Well…." Chloe looked sheepish, "Yeah. But he asked me not to tell." 

"Why not?!"

Chloe leaned forward on the couch, looking at her cousin accusingly, "Because we knew you'd react this way."

"And what way is that?" Lois leaned forward, set the carton of ice cream she had been holding in her hands on the coffee table and crossed her arms.

Chloe raised an eyebrow, "Do I have to answer that?"

Lois looked down at herself and mentally reined in the part of her that Chloe was talking about.

"Besides, I think that instead of being angry, you should congratulate the five of us for keeping it a secret from you."

"Five? Do you mean to tell me that my father was in on this too?"

Chloe grabbed the ice cream and spoon and hid her mouth behind a loaded spoonful-inwardly cringing as she said her next words, "No. Elizabeth knew."

"Elizabeth?!" Lois stood up indignantly, "My almost four year old was able to keep this from me?"

"Well," Chloe shrugged apologetically, "She takes after Clark in a lot of ways. Secret keeping is her forte."

Lois sat back down, wearily shaking her head, "I must be losing my touch, Chlo."

Her cousin smiled reassuringly, "You're not losing your touch. We're just that good."

Lois glared at Chloe, reaching out and stealing the ice cream back before flopping back into the couch.

"So……has he……?"

"What?" Lois pressed the play button on the episode of 'Veronica Mars' they had been watching before their conversation had forced her to pause it. "Saved anyone yet in it? No. But don't worry; apparently we'll be the first to know when it happens."

"Good," Chloe crossed her arms. "This is a Kerth worthy story if ever I heard one."

Lois looked at her cousin, a self-satisfied smirk on her face, "Yep. And it's all mine."

Chloe's jaw dropped, "Seriously?!"

"Well I AM his partner," Lois murmured, the smirk still on her face.

Chloe raised her chin stubbornly, "I'm his best friend."

Lois shook her head, her eyes telling Chloe that there was no way she was winning this story, "I'm the mother of his child."

Chloe opened her mouth to say something in retort and then shut it abruptly. If they were going to play the 'I'm closer to Clark than you are' game post-Elizabeth, Lois would always win it hands down, "Okay. I can't top that, but…"

"But nothing Chloe. Clark and I may not have known each other as long as you and he have, but I'm the one who's been putting up with him for the last few months."

"And how's that going by the way?" Chloe moved on, knowing that this line of conversation would only lead to feelings getting hurt. The friendly rivalry between herself and Lois that had been going on since Lois' early days at the Planet would only stay friendly if each respected each others boundaries and Lois' boundary-at least in this case-was clearly named…..

Chloe furrowed her brow. What was Clark going to call this alter-ego of his anyway?

Lois shrugged, "It's going. I hate sharing my byline though."

Chloe let out a chuckle, thoughts of what exactly Clark was going to call himself in the outfit that Mr. and Mrs. Kent had brought up leaving at Lois' mention of her coveted byline.

"And the way he criticizes my writing. I mean, does it matter if it's spelled correctly? That's what spell-check is for," Lois continued. "And editors for that matter."

They fell silent for a moment, and then….. "So where IS Clark this evening?" Chloe murmured, watching the show as she asked the question.

"He took Elizabeth to Smallville. Something about the two of them needing to see a meteor shower and not being able to do it here. Too many lights I guess." 

Chloe smiled, "That sounds like Clark."

"Yeah well, Clark has always had an obsession with astronomy and it appears his daughter is going to follow in his footsteps."

Chloe looked at her cousin out of the corner of her eyes and sighed in frustration, deftly pressing the button to pause the TV again, "Okay, that's it."

Lois quirked an eyebrow in her direction, "What are you talking about Chloe?

"This," she motioned with a hand toward Lois, "Is what I'm talking about. What exactly is wrong with you?"

"Chloe," Lois looked confused, "Nothing's wrong with me. Now can you hit the play button? We're missing…."

"…a program we've seen about a zillion times before. Now cut the crap and tell me exactly why you're behaving so blasé about everything. You reacted to the news that Elizabeth was able to keep Clark's plan from you but as soon as I mentioned Clark, you shut down and turned into Ms. No Emotion Unless I'm Being Sarcastic. Now spill…"

Lois leaned her head back against the couch and sighed. She had been hoping that Chloe wouldn't have noticed that.

"Well?" Chloe crossed her arms.

"Chloe, I really don't want to talk about this, okay? What is or isn't happening between Clark and me is none of your business. Besides, NOTHING is happening between Clark and me. We're friends, partners and parents and that's it, I swear," Lois breathed a breath out through her mouth in what she hoped was a signal to her cousin that the man in question wasn't even registering on her radar anymore.

The truth of the matter was that he was all she could think about anymore.

She supposed it would have been easier if he wasn't around so much but that really wasn't an option. He was everywhere it seemed; at work, at the apartment with Elizabeth, and somehow always at the farm whenever she and their daughter decided to go back to Smallville for a weekend. In short, he had somehow finagled his way into every facet of her life and, much to her chagrin, she had found herself adapting to his presence and even coming to miss him in the odd moments that he chose not to be there.

A slow grin began to spread on Chloe's face as she watched Lois try to talk her way out of the calling out that she had just subjected her to, "And that's the problem isn't it?"

"What? The fact that he's always around? Yeah, that IS a problem but I'm dealing. It's only a month more and then Perry promises me that I'll be a free woman."

"No," Chloe put up a hand to stop her cousin's next words, "I'm talking about the fact that nothing is happening."

Lois raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, and that's a good thing. What's your point Chloe?"

"My point, oh-slow-and-in-denial-one, is that you want something to happen between yourself and Clark. In fact, I bet it's driving you nuts that he hasn't made a move yet."

"That's the stupidest thing that I've ever heard and.."Lois paused mid-sentence as she saw that Chloe wasn't going to fall for it tonight. "It's totally true."

"I knew it!" her cousin clapped her hands in excitement and bounced a bit on the couch, something that Elizabeth did when she was excited and that both Chloe and Lois had found themselves mimicking from time to time. "So when are you going to make a move?"

Lois shifted in her seat, uncomfortable, "I'm not. At least not anytime soon. We're just friends and I'm not about to change that now. Before Elizabeth, maybe but now? I'm not about to make the same errors in judgment. It's not just me that has to deal with the consequences anymore."

"First off Lois, you and Clark passed the 'friend' line when the two of you christened the closet and nine months later had a baby and second, I don't think a relationship between you and Clark would disrupt Elizabeth's life at all. After all, if you hadn't made that 'error in judgment,' she wouldn't even be here."

"But it was the wrong thing to do!" Lois stood up and began to pace. She paused briefly, "I mean the sex part, not the baby part. I have no regrets about Elizabeth."

Chloe rolled her eyes as she watched her normally composed cousin- a condition that had become normal over the past few years but in fact, she knew, was the most strange condition ever for Lois- begin to pace again, "And you know, all these years I thought you found Elizabeth in a cabbage patch. You need to have sex to have a baby, Lois."

"I know that Chloe, it's just," she sat down again, "How is it possible to hate someone one day and the next, lust after them so bad that if you don't have them you think you'll go insane? Because that was the closet incident. And the morning after, it wasn't gone like I thought it would be. If anything, I wanted him more than I had the night before but I couldn't do anything about it. I knew we had gone too fast and I couldn't stand to see him want something from me that I wasn't ready for."

"And now he's back," she leaned back against the couch and stared up at the ceiling, "And he's such a good father to Elizabeth and I thought that would be enough, you know? I'm older and wiser now. I should know better than to want to hop into bed with a man I find infuriating."

"But you do," Chloe finished the verbalized thought that Lois hadn't found it in her power to finish. Admitting that she wanted Clark for more than just a friend was the first step in a path that she knew Lois wouldn't willingly take without a push.

And, judging from the recent denial that had been going on from both parties, Chloe strongly suspected that it was going to have to be an incredibly powerful push before either did something about the thinly veiled feelings they were disguising from each other.

Lois nodded, "I do."

"Well," Chloe said after a moment. "As far as I can see, you have three options then. You could tell him how you feel and see if he would go for moving past the friend barrier."

Lois shook her head vehemently, "No. What's the next option?"

"You could start dating again. Scratch the itch with someone else."

"Chloe, I can't do that. Elizabeth has just gotten used to having Clark around. I can't go introducing new men into her life."

"Well then, I guess that leaves option three then."

"Which is?"

Chloe shrugged, "Take the edge off some other way."

She reached down to the space beside the couch where she had stowed her purse at the beginning of the evening and took out a gift wrapped box. 

"What's that?" Lois looked a it warily.

"Your only option apparently," Chloe handed the package to Lois and sat back in her seat, crossing her arms.

"Chloe….what is this?" Lois took it gingerly and began to open it.

"Something I bought you about a month ago. I was saving it for Christmas but your attitude lately made me think tonight was as good a time as any."

"Chloe," Lois began to blush, knowing exactly what was in the package as she pulled back the last of the paper and opened the box. "You didn't…"

"Oh I did," she smirked, "And don't worry Lois, your blushing is thanks enough."

"Pink, Chloe? You know how much I hate pink," Lois pulled the gift that her cousin had chosen for her out of its box.

"Trust me Lois," Chloe stood up and gathered up her purse, "The color is going to be the last thing on your mind. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll just leave you two alone."

"Chloe, I'm not going to…."

"Are you going to tell Clark how you feel about him?" her cousin interrupted.

"No."

"Then I'm leaving. I'll see you at work tomorrow and ah," she arched a brow at Lois, "Here's hoping option three does the trick."

And with that, she left Lois and her new hot pink vibrator alone in the apartment.


	12. Part 11

**Part 11**

Clark poured a cup of coffee and cursed as it spilled over the top of the mug and onto the counter top.

"I hope that wasn't mine."

He turned, not surprised in the least that Lois had caught him like this yet again.

She seemed to have a knack for finding him in awkward situations.

With an annoyed look at her, he took the handful of napkins she held out to him, "No. That one was mine. Yours is over there."

"Good to hear it," she said breezily, walking past him and picking up the mug he had finished pouring mere moments before. She took a sip and closed her eyes as the caffeine began to course its way through her deprived veins.

Opening her eyes, she leaned against the counter and watched as her partner cleaned up the mess he had made, "So….was it the glasses that made you this clumsy or have you always been this way?"

He glared at her, tossing the soiled napkins into the trashcan, "Funny."

Lois raised an eyebrow at his tone, "Someone's in a bad mood this morning."

Clark poured himself another cup of coffee, added milk and stirred, "I'm not in a bad mood. I'm just…"

"Just what?"

He picked up the mug and shook his head, "Nothing."

Lois stopped leaning against the counter and followed Clark as he began to walk toward the area they shared on the bullpen floor, "Right. Nothing."

He took a seat at his desk and sat his coffee mug on the corner, his hands moving directly back to the keyboard. He had a story to finish and, moreover, he needed to move Lois away from the topic of what was bothering him.

His bad (and apparently bumbling) mood was a result of a number of factors. Topping the list was his own nervousness concerning what he was going to be doing in the next few days. A close second, however, had everything to do with his growing feelings for Lois and the complete standstill they had come to in the friendship they had been attempting.

Like when they were teenagers, it appeared that they couldn't live on middle ground. They were together all the time-running into each other when they weren't planning to and (although neither would admit) missing the other when they weren't there even if the sole purpose of their presence would have been as someone to argue with.

This time around though, their proximity to each wasn't a choice, it was a necessity. They were partners at work, parents at home and somehow always ended up going to Smallville to visit his parents on the same weekends. In short, Lois' presence in his life was so constant that it was becoming more and more difficult to ignore what he had (if he had admitted it to himself four years ago) felt for her and continued to feel for her.

Love. Pure, unadulterated, knock-a-person-off-their-feet love.

And while this feeling was most certainly a good thing (or at least HE thought so), it was putting a cramp in their friendship. Clark had thought about bringing up…more, but he knew how adamant Lois had been about being simply friends so he had chosen to let her make the first move when she was ready.

Judging by her progress, this wouldn't be happening until Elizabeth was ready for university and so today, Clark had decided that he would try to take the step that Lois seemed unable to. Dinner together, in a location other than one of their kitchens, wasn't a big step away from friendship, was it?

From beside him, Lois cleared her throat, finding the silence awkward enough to let the last subject drop-for the moment at least, "So how was your weekend in Smallville? Elizabeth wasn't a problem, was she?"

"Elizabeth," Clark breathed out an inaudible sigh of relief that she hadn't been able to read his last thoughts, and looked up from his computer, "Was an angel. As usual."

"How'd she like the meteor shower?"

He shrugged, his heart beating faster as he steeled himself for what he was going to ask her in the next minute, "She had a good time, I think. It was pretty impressive."

"I'd imagine," Lois trailed off. Silence fell over the two of them.

Clark cleared his throat awkwardly, his voice betraying him at the last moment, unable to say the words he wanted to say, "Well, um, I think I should get back to this story. Perry wanted it for tomorrow morning."

"Yeah," Lois nodded, turning away from his desk. "I have things to work on too. Deadlines to meet and all that jazz."

"Yeah," Clark murmured, watching as she took a seat at her desk directly across from his. He tried again… "Lois?"

"Yes?" she looked up.

Clark opened his mouth……and chickened out again, "Nothing. I forgot."

"Oh," she nodded, "Well when you think of it, let me know, alright?"

"Sure."

Lois furrowed her brow, turning her attention to her computer. For a moment, she had thought Clark was going to ask her out. She shook her head. Apparently, lust and fantasy were going to her head. If only Clark moved as fast as the version that lived in her dreams…

She looked up a moment later, noticing that the clacking of Clark's keyboard had gone silent, "Clark?"

"Shhh," he shushed her, concentrating intently on-Lois imagined-something he was hearing far away. He got up and adjusted his tie, grabbing his jacket from his chair and slipping it on quickly.

"Where are you going?"

"Out. I forgot to…..pick up my dry cleaning this morning," he said absentmindedly, his attention on the screaming people miles away and not on making up a good excuse.

Not that he had to. Lois knowing his secret had come in handy in the course of their partnership at the Daily Planet. She covered for him when he had to go save someone and he bailed her out of some of the situations that she got herself into in her search for the truth.

Lois leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, "Nice try. Where are you really going?"

He leaned on her desk, speaking in a low voice, "Train derailment outside of Metropolis."

Her eyes widened, "How many injured?"

He shook his head, "I'm not sure. But I've…."

"….got to go," Lois finished his sentence for him.

He nodded, "Yeah."

She looked at her computer a moment, contemplating how much Perry needed this story versus whatever she would be able to get from this emerging…...she cut herself off mid-thought as she realized what else she might be covering today. After all, it was the middle of the morning and Clark had just told her that he was about to save people in an open area outside Metropolis.

"Clark," she looked up to confirm that her theory was true. "Are you….?"

Her words went unheard though. He was already gone.

Lois stood back from the rubble of the derailed train, taking notes as she watched Clark help to rescue the remaining five people still on board the train. She winced slightly as the light of a camera went off beside her and for the umpteenth time in the past hour Jimmy had marveled at the flying man in front of them.

With a sigh, she sat down on the grass and looked up at Jimmy Olson, the photographer Perry had sent along with her to cover this story, "Jimmy. I think that's enough. You've taken two rolls already."

He looked at her incredulously, "Lois. That's a flying man helping those people. A FLYING man. This is incredible. I should have brought a bigger memory card…"

She rolled her eyes before she could stop herself. While the costume had been impressive (she hadn't seen it on Clark until she had shown up and watched him begin to save passengers an hour ago), she had gotten used to his abilities in the past few weeks and wasn't nearly as impressed with them as everyone seemed to be right now. She supposed it was a testament to how comfortable she had gotten with Clark that she now accepted his powers so much that they were indistinguishable from his person.

"Jimmy, calm down. I'm sure you've gotten enough."

"Calm down?! Lois, this is a Kerth piece right here and we're getting it! Now all you need is an interview and we're good to go."

"And I'm going to get it," Lois patted the spot next to her in the grass, "But not until after he gets those last few people out of the train. I wouldn't want to distract…."

She was cut off as Clark emerged with the last passenger and set him down on the ground next to the tipped over train just in time for the train to explode, a large piece of it heading straight for the spot that Lois and Jimmy were currently sitting in.

She watched in slow motion as the fragments from the train came directly for them…and suddenly stopped. Lois lowered the hands she hadn't noticed she'd raised and took in the sight of….she furrowed her brow. What was Clark going to call himself when he was whomever he was anyways? At any rate, whomever he was eventually going to call himself, he was holding the debris in his hands, inches away from the spot that Jimmy and she had been sitting in.

"Thanks," she murmured shakily after a moment, her body trembling a bit as she realized what had just happened.

"You're welcome," Clark dropped the piece of steel on the ground. "Next time, don't get so close to the wreckage, alright?"

She nodded, still in shock.

From beside her, Jimmy nudged her pointedly, cocking his head at the costumed man standing in front of them.

Springing to action, she stood up, "Speaking of that, the, um, accident that is, I was wondering if you could do an interview with me for the Daily Planet? My readers would love to hear about the man who saved all those people."

Jimmy nudged her again after a moment of the caped hero in front of them staring at Lois blankly.

"Maybe tonight or tomorrow?"

Clark was silent, stoic in his new role, and then…. "Sure. But only an interview. No pictures."

Lois could almost feel Jimmy wilting a bit next to her.

She nodded though, knowing that this was the interview that was probably going to change her career-and her life-forever, "Sure. I'll meet you at the Planet then? Say 7 PM?"

Clark shook his head, "No. I'll find you."

Lois shot him an incredulous look at his behavior but moved on, mindful that if they looked too familiar someone might do the math and figure out that they knew each other, "Okay."

And with that, he turned away to deal with the train….and the piece of wreckage that had so recently been trying to imbed itself into Lois and Jimmy's sculls.

She sank back down onto the grass, suddenly shaky, "What just happened?"

Jimmy shook his head, "That, I think, was you getting the interview that will win you a Kerth."

"No, not that," she hit Jimmy in the arm.

"Oh, the almost getting hit by a large hunk of steel?"

"Yeah. The part where we….."

"…could have been killed! What were you thinking?" Clark railed at Lois, his cape flying out from behind him temperamentally.

"I was getting the story, Clark. It's what I do," Lois pulled open her laptop and set it on her desk. She was still unnerved by the whole incident but she wasn't about to tell him that; that would make him right and Clark was never right, at least in her book.

"But that close? You could have been killed."

"See? You keep saying that. The fact of the matter is that I'm still alive. Now, before we get this interview started, I have a personal question: the underwear over the tights, is that a fashion statement?"

Clark glowered at her and sat down in the chair next to her desk, "Lois, you're not getting out of this with sarcasm."

"And I'm not trying to," she opened the file of questions she had been compiling for this interview since Clark had told her he was going to give her first dibs on the story. "But if I don't get this onto Perry's desk in the next few hours, I won't make the morning addition and someone will scoop me."

"Fine," Clark moved on, sensing this was going to be a losing battle for him. "But can we talk about this later?"

"Um-hm," Lois murmured, "When you're Clark Kent again and not…..who exactly are you when you're dressed like this?"

"I don't know, Lois. Who do you want me to be?" he murmured wryly, taking a seat on the couch.

"That's what we're trying to decide, oh ye of the super powers. And why didn't you think of a name for yourself when you were coming up with the costume?"

"I was going to. I just didn't get around to it," Clark crossed his arms. "Look, don't worry about it now. Just…get the interview done and then you can pick a name for me later."

"Alright, fine," Lois shook her head, moving back to her computer. "Let's get on with this then. I've got a story to write and you've got a good excuse to think up if you don't want Perry ripping your head off for missing what happened today. Now, about the underwear over the tights. IS it a fashion statement?"

Clark rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to answer Lois' question. He had a feeling that this was going to be one of the most infamous interviews of his life.


	13. Part 12

**Part 12**

The next afternoon found Clark at his desk, waiting for Lois. He had seen her briefly this morning, after she had called him to get him to come over and take Elizabeth to daycare.

Apparently Perry had needed to talk to her about her story...

…And STILL needed to talk to her it seemed, judging by how long she had spent in his office this morning and now again this afternoon.

He was fairly certain that the reason their editor had pulled her aside after lunch had nothing to do with needing to talk to her and everything to do with demanding that she get another interview with the man who was responsible for selling out every copy of the 'Daily Planet' in Metropolis within the first three hours of it's publication though.

At any rate, between her meetings with Perry and the questions/praise she had been receiving from her co-workers, Clark had yet to say more than three words to Lois today.

This was a shame because he had quite a lot to say to her.

He looked up from his work as the subject of his thoughts approached her desk and sat down, turning on her laptop.

"So," he began, not looking up from the story he was typing up for the evening edition, "Superman?"

Lois hid a smirk, not looking up from her laptop, "Well, Captain America was taken, Clark, and Mr. I've Got A Stick Up My Ass seemed inappropriate for a headline."

Clark raised his eyes to the ceiling, exasperated, "You know what I mean, Lois. Isn't Superman a little…."

Lois rolled her eyes, "A little what, Smallville?"

"Egotistical?" he raised an eyebrow, fishing in her answer for some hidden opinion concerning his newly dubbed alter-ego.

She leaned back in her chair, "Well I don't know, Clark. Do you think that Superman thinks that highly of himself that it'll go to his head?"

"Of course not, but…." Clark cut himself off as his ears picked up the sounds of screaming.

"What is it?" Lois leaned forward.

"Five car pile-up on the expressway coming into Metropolis," Clark murmured softly, pausing a moment to listen some more before standing.

From her desk, Lois began to gather up her things.

"No," he cut into her preparations, "You're not coming with me."

"Clark, I'll just say that I'm stepping out to go meet a source. I can meet you over ther…"

"No," he cut her off, lowering his voice as he prepared himself for what he was about to say, "If anyone found out who I really am and your relationship to me, let alone how you always knew where I was saving someone, you could be in danger and I won't have that."

Lois crossed her arms, suddenly irate that Clark would turn all cave man on her at a time like this, "You 'won't have it?'"

He breathed out a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose, above the line that his glasses generally sat on, "Look Lois. You were the one who told me I needed to start doing this anonymously. How anonymously is it going to look if you're the first reporter on the scene?"

She paused, seeing the wisdom in Clark's words but not wanting to admit it.

"I'm going to take your silence as a 'Yes, Clark, you're right' and go now. Can you…."

Lois gave in, knowing that Clark knew that she thought he was right and accepting it-at least for the moment, "Tell Perry you went out to cover a story? Or maybe that I sent you out to grab me some lunch? Something like that?"

He nodded, a half-smile on his face, "Yeah. And Lois?"

"Um-hm?"

"Wait until the television crews start covering the story before you come out to cover it yourself."

"Sure," she turned back to her desk to put her purse back where she had retrieved it from, "I'll just listen to directions like a useless person and…."

She turned back around, rolling her eyes as she saw that Clark had disappeared again. Somehow, she thought she should get used to this because it seemed to be happening a lot lately.

"Lane!"

Lois turned around, unsurprised to find that the barking voice that had drawn her attention belonged to her editor, "Perry. Long time, no see."

"Yes," he looked at her, "Those ten minutes since our last meeting WERE rather long, weren't they?"

Perry looked at the jacket she was holding and furrowed his brow, "And just where do you think you're going?"

"Um…." She tried her best to think of an answer, "I had to go see a source but Clark just told me that the source called to cancel the meeting."

"Well good," Perry continued, "There's been an accident outside of Metropolis and I need you to go cover it. The news just reported that Superman showed up and I need you to get the Planet another interview today."

"Today?" Lois looked confused, "But Chief, I just did one with him last night."

"And apparently the public loved it so much that they want you to do it again as soon as possible, or so say sales anyway," Perry reached onto her desk and handed her her purse. "Now go. Before someone scoops us. And take Kent, wherever he's disappeared to, with you!"

Lois shook her head as she turned away and started to walk towards the door, "Yeah, not going to be a problem."


	14. Part 13

**Part 13**

Lois smiled into her drink as she watched her cousin order another round, inwardly reflecting on the likelihood that they would be doing this anytime in the near future.

She had known this was coming, couldn't help but know with the way Chloe had been acting lately; dissatisfied, restless, and searching for more purpose than she currently found at the Daily Planet.

"Lois?" the subject of her thoughts interrupted her musings with a concerned tone and another Cosmopolitan.

"Hmm?" Lois took the drink from Chloe and sat it next the near empty glass she had been nursing.

Chloe let out a short snort, "Where'd you go there?"

Lois shrugged, "Just thinking about how difficult it's going to be going out for drinks with you when you're in Gotham."

Chloe gave her sympathetic half-smile, "I'll be in Smallville for Christmas at least."

"But that's a whole month away," she protested weakly, finishing off her drink and moving onto the second.

"Yeah, but at least I'm not leaving you alone. You've got a new partner and a shiny new momento to keep you company."

Lois raised an eyebrow, "Are you referring to the 'gift' you gave me, or the Kerth?"

Chloe stifled a laugh, "Both actually. You can't really display the first and the second doesn't have a rotating head. Together, they're the total package."

She paused, choosing to fish a bit since Lois seemed in an introspective mood; Chloe had always gotten more out of her when she got like this, "And, as I said, you've got Clark. Elizabeth too, for that matter."

It was Lois' turn to let out a snort, "Let's not talk about that, alright? Talking about that only gets me angry and frustrated and we're celebrating tonight, remember? Your new big job and my award winning story."

"On Superman," Chloe tried again.

Lois narrowed her eyes, "Chloe…"

"Alright, alright, I'll let the subject go."

"Good."

Chloe lasted all of five seconds on that promise, "It's just that I don't agree with how you two are handling this….situation."

Lois rolled her eyes and took another sip of her drink, "For the last time, Chloe, there is no situation."

"Really?" Chloe looked at her incredulously, "Then how come the office has a pool on when you two are going to jump each other?"

Lois put down her drink slowly, thinking this over and finding herself strangely amused by it, "And what did you put down, Chlo?"

"Christmas Eve. The rest of the office thinks I'm crazy, that you two most likely will be on opposite ends of the country and too far away from each other to do anything more than lust after the other but they don't know you two like I do. They also don't know about…."

"….Elizabeth," Lois finished her cousin's sentence for her.

"Which begs the question," Chloe continued. "And it's off topic so feel free to divert me back to the topic at hand, but when are you two going to let the cat out of the bag and tell Perry that the father of your child is your partner at work?"

Lois paused, staring at her drink for a moment before lifting her head, "When we don't have to be partners anymore, that's when. I need to let Clark take this time to prove that he can do this job."

Chloe rolled her eyes at the lame excuse, "And he's already proved that. Many times."

Lois shook her head, "You said it yourself, Chloe. The office has a pool going on for when Clark and I will finally crack and admit that we have feelings for each other which, let me set the record straight, I'm not sure we do. At any rate, I'm not prepared to let my daughter be reduced to office gossip."

Chloe looked at her cousin, assessing her words and finding them to be less lame than she had originally thought they would be, "Fair enough."

Lois cleared her throat after a moment of silence, "Now can we move on? We always talk about Clark and I'd like to talk about something else for a change."

"Like what?" Chloe countered. It was true that her match making skills were a tad rusty but she had managed to get her cousin and her best friend to wake up to reality long enough to conceive a child together and send each other into emotional confusion so she thought she would take another stab at it.

"Like your new job."

"That Clark helped me get."

Despite how disgusted she was that they were already back to talking about Clark, she continued out of curiosity, "Really? How?"

Chloe leaned forward and looked around, checking to see if anyone was watching. Satisfied that they were safe, she continued, "He and Bruce Wayne did some work together awhile back and Clark recommended me to him when he mentioned that the Gazette was looking for another reporter."

Lois shook her head, knowing that when Chloe mentioned Bruce Wayne, she didn't mean Bruce Wayne, she meant Batman. Indeed, while Superman didn't always respect or agree with Batman's way of doing things, that hadn't stopped them from working together, "Sounds like Clark."

"Yeah….." Chloe cleared her throat, deciding to take pity on Lois and actually change the subject this time, "So tell me how it felt to get that award…"

"Daddy?"

Clark looked up from the story he was reading Elizabeth, "Um-hm?"

"When's Mommy coming home with Aunt Chloe?"

He sighed, adjusting his daughter's body against his own and sitting up a bit on the couch, "Soon. She and your Aunt Chloe are just out celebrating."

"Mommy's award?" Elizabeth murmured, her tiny fingers playing with the buttons on Clark's favorite flannel shirt.

"Um-hm. And Aunt Chloe's promotion."

Elizabeth's bottom lip came out at this reminder that her Aunt was going to be leaving Metropolis very shortly. "I wish she hadn't gotten that stupid promotion."

"Because she's going to be farther away?"

Elizabeth nodded, "I'll never see her."

"Sure you will," he attempted to reassure her. "She's coming for Christmas in Smallville. You'll see her in a month and she's not leaving until Saturday."

"It's not the same."

"No," Clark sighed. He had been thinking of the same thing when she had told him that the job he had referred her to had been given to her. "It's not."

He held the book back up to eye level, opening his mouth to continue the story.

Elizabeth, however, had other plans, "Daddy?"

"Yes, Elizabeth?"

"Can we read the story about the 12 dancing princesses next?"

Clark stifled a yawn; Elizabeth had worn him out this evening, "Yeah, sure."

Elizabeth paused for a moment, waiting while her father finished reading the next page of the book before asking her next question, "Can we read it now?"

He turned his head to look at her, a smirk on his face, "Elizabeth, are you bored with this story?"

She simply nodded.

"Okay," he shrugged, getting up from the couch and looking down at her. "Is it in your room?"

"In Mommy's room," Elizabeth sat up, her short legs dangling over the edge of the couch. "Can I have a glass of juice?"

"What kind would you like?"

"Grape, please."

Clark eyed Lois' beige couch and tried to measure how big the potential stain would be if Elizabeth dropped her juice before coming to a decision, "How about apple instead?"

"Okay."

"Alright. I'll be right back," Clark sighed, another yawn making him cover his mouth as he began to walk down the hallway towards Lois' room. Between his day job, his duties as Superman, and Elizabeth, he was about ready to go to sleep.

Elizabeth, excited over her first evening alone with her father in a week, had had other plans though. They had read together, they had played with her blocks (something Lois had told him built mental dexterity as it strengthened the child's brain rather than weakening it as she assured Clark dolls did), and they had caught up on each other's lives.

In short, Elizabeth, like her mother, had had far too many things to do to preoccupy Clark that sleep hadn't found a place in any itinerary that they had come up with together.

It was almost 8 though, Clark reminded himself as he opened the door to Lois' room and flipped the light switch, and he was the adult. One last story and then Elizabeth had to go to bed for the evening.

He looked around the bed, searching for Elizabeth's book, but didn't find it. With a sigh, he sat down the edge of the bed and began to look through the books on Lois' bedside table.

He found it at the bottom of the stack and, in typical Clark fashion, he managed to drop the top three books on the floor in the process of retrieving what he was looking for. Clark sighed, reaching down to pick up the books, his hand reaching under the bed for the corner of the last and pulling it out-along with a velvet bag.

He furrowed his brow, wondering what was inside it, and absent-mindedly placed the book he had retrieved on the bedside table. He loosened the drawstring of the bag….

….and began to blush as he realized what it was, his mind going to a place he usually didn't allow himself to go in regards to Lois. It was painful, both physically and emotionally, because he knew he didn't have a right to think of her in that way. They were friends and that was all she wanted from him at this point.

The dirty place in his mind was choosing to ignore this fact as it evilly began to churn out images of exactly what Lois had been doing with the pink vibrator in the velvet bag.

Suddenly he wasn't so tired anymore.

He closed the bag and put it back under the bed, willing his brain to stop the slideshow of imagined images it was parading in front of his eyes. He shook his head and stood up, picking the book Elizabeth had sent him in to find up and moving quickly out of Lois' bedroom.

"Elizabeth?" he called out, "I found the book…."

Clark stopped in his track and smiled as he saw her passed out form on the couch, lightly snoring. If he recalled correctly, Lois snored too.

"Time for bed then," he murmured, almost disappointedly. Given the choice between his own thoughts and reading his daughter the 'Twelve Dancing Princesses' for the umpteenth time, he had found himself hoping for the latter.

Given that Elizabeth was now asleep there could be no help for it so, with a sigh, he crossed the room, placed the book onto the coffee table and lifted his daughter into his arms.

She was going to bed and he was going to spend the rest of the evening thinking cold thoughts that didn't involve Lois and hot pink vibrators.

It wasn't until he had managed to put Elizabeth in bed that he heard the door to the apartment open.


	15. Part 14

**Part 14**

Lois stumbled through the door and almost tripped over the small end table she usually kept her keys and purse on.

She paused, closing her eyes briefly to steady herself before closing the door and taking her shoes off.

"Lois?" Clark called out inquiringly, walking into the hallway and raising an eyebrow. If he wasn't mistaken, she was drunk. "Are you alright?"

"Um-hm," she slipped her shoes off clumsily and started to remove her jacket.

"Do you need some help with that?" he asked, watching as she struggled to remove her arms.

"Nope. I'm good," she smiled up at him, the look on her face turning to frustration as the coat she was trying to remove stubbornly refused to budge.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm….sure!" she said as she finally struggled free, throwing the jacket on the floor and moving into the kitchen area.

"Lois?" Clark followed her.

"Yep?" she answered, her face examining the contents of her fridge, eventually bringing out a bottle of water and beginning to drink directly out of it.

"You're drunk."

"No!" she scoffed, denying his accusation but knowing that it was-at least a little bit-true. "Tipsy, but not drunk. You should see Chloe. Now SHE'S drunk."

"Right," he smirked, looking away so she couldn't see it.

"Okay, maybe I'm a little drunk," she conceded, taking a sip of water, "And watch yourself mister. I can see you laughing at me from here."

"Oh really?" he crossed his arms and watched as she drained the bottle and moved onto a second.

"Yes, really, and I don't like it."

"Uh-huh," he shook his head, "So I assume the two of you had a good night then?"

Lois pushed past him and made her way to the living room, flopping herself down on the couch, "As good a night as we could have had considering it was essentially a good-bye party."

"Lois," Clark sat down next to her on the couch. "She's going to Gotham. It's not even that far away."

"Maybe to you. To me and Elizabeth, she might as well be moving half-way across the world."

"I can take you there anytime you want to you know," he said more gently now.

"I know. It's just….hard. She's more than my cousin," Lois let out a humorless laugh, "She's more than my sister actually. And she's been there for me in a way that no one has."

"With Elizabeth," Clark breathed, feeling guilty even though he knew he shouldn't. Lois had understood why he had had to leave and she also knew that if she had told him about her pregnancy that he would have stayed.

"With Elizabeth," she nodded, "But also with myself."

He raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.

She met his eye and gave him a half-smile, "I was a bit of a mess after the closet incident. And then, after you left, Chloe moved in with me without even having to be asked. She just….knew I needed someone even before I knew I needed someone."

"And I DID need someone, even if it was just to eat cherry pie and watch old episodes of 'Buffy' with me."

Clark let out a snort of laughter, amused and slightly shocked that Lois was deciding to let him know these intimate details about such an emotionally difficult time, "Cherry pie?"

She took a sip of water and nodded her head, "Yeah. Cherry pie. Some women crave pickles and ice cream when they're pregnant; I craved cherry pie and hot chocolate."

He raised an eyebrow, "Lois, you hate cherry pie and you don't drink hot chocolate, you drink coffee."

She shook her head, "After nine months of eating it-or at least making ME eat it- I can't say I was surprised to discover how much Elizabeth loves the stuff."

They both went silent, memories of Lois' pregnancy (or in Clark's case, the complete absence of memory) leaving them both a little uncomfortable.

"This is a really awkward conversation," Lois blurted out after a moment, the alcohol in her system making it impossible to keep an inner monologue inside.

"Yeah," Clark nodded, having been thinking the same thing but being too polite to say anything. "It really is."

Lois turned her head and looked at Clark, her head cushioned on the soft fabric of the couch, "Why is that though?"

Clark raised an eyebrow. Lois was full of surprises tonight, "Why is this a really awkward conversation?"

"No. Kind of. Yes," she shook her head and sighed. "What I'm trying to say is that, I know what we're both thinking now even if you're too much of a gentleman to say it."

She raised her head up and sat her water bottle on the end table next to the couch. "I have the guts to say it so I will."

"You mean you're drunk enough to say it," Clark interjected.

"Shut up," she shot back with a glare. "I'm trying to do this….thing…that we should have done a long time ago. So what if I'm drunk? I wouldn't be able to do this if I was sober."

"But is it going to mean anything if you say it when you're drunk?"

Lois paused, and then…. "I'm hoping so. I'm pretty sure anyway. Chloe always tells me I get more honest with myself and others when I'm drunk."

Clark paused a moment, debating whether or not to let this conversation continue. Any progress (or regressions) they would make in their relationship could potentially be erased should Lois decide the next morning that this had been a mistake (as she had after the closet incident) and Clark didn't want to take that chance.

There was too much at stake for that to happen.

Decided now, he stood up.

"Where are you going?" Lois called after him, watching as he entered the kitchen.

He emerged after a moment, a pen and a pad of paper in his hand, "To get this."

She raised an eyebrow questioningly, "And what's that for?"

Clark looked at her and sat down, using his superspeed to write out the short note he needed to get down. He sighed and handed the note to her, "Read and sign, please."

Lois shot him an incredulous look, "Is this what I think it is?"

"If you think this is a contract, then yes, you're correct. This is to ensure that you do not dismiss what we're about to discuss tomorrow morning when you're sober."

She looked at the paper in her hand, "Is this really necessary?

He nodded, "Just sign it. It'll make both of us feel better."

"You mean, it'll make YOU feel better," she grumbled, snatching the pen out of his hand and signing her name on the line he had so graciously provided. "Do you distrust me that much, Clark?"

"At times like this, yes Lois, I do," Clark, in frustration, admitted. "And you can't say that you don't feel the same way about me."

Lois looked him in the eye and shrugged, "No, I really can't."

Clark fell silent a moment, thinking about the wall of distrust that still existed between them and braced himself, "So where do you want to start?"

She furrowed her brow in concentration, her brain trying to dredge up the spot that this conversation had started from. Finally, after a moment, she succeeded, "Why don't we start with the question that got us here."

He nodded, "Ah yes. The 'why is this such an awkward conversation' question."

"Yeah."

"Well," he sighed, taking a stab at the answer-or the closest thing to an answer as he was able to get to anyways, "I think it's because we don't trust each other."

"Now that's not true," Lois protested, "I show you that I trust you everyday. With Elizabeth, with my professional career….with my life…."

"But not with your heart," he murmured pointedly, looking straight at her in order to gauge exactly how his words effected her.

She fell silent, letting him continue.

"The night I left," he cleared his throat, "You told me that you could easily give me all of you and that you'd never felt that way before. Was that a lie or are you just afraid to actually let go?"

Lois reached for her water and took a sip of it before answering, "No Clark, that wasn't a lie. At the time, I probably could have just let myself go."

"Then why didn't you? Why'd you kick me out the morning after we made love?"

"Had sex," she corrected him. "We had sex Clark. It would have been making love if I hadn't gotten scared and kicked you out the next morning, and then we had done it again."

"Right. Sorry."

"It's fine. I confused myself enough in that three month period. It's not surprising that I managed to confuse you too," she sat her bottle back on the end table and moved herself on the couch so that she was lying down, her head on one of the cushions and her legs settling over Clark's lap.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," she apologized. "The alcohol is making me sleepy."

"It's fine," he shook his head.

"Thanks Clark," she yawned.

He cleared his throat, "So….you didn't answer my question earlier: why'd you kick me out?"

She opened one eye and stared at him, "Why'd you keep your superpowers from me?"

"Lois, I didn't know how you would take it. What we had-even if it was only chemistry-wasn't enough to…."

"…Risk everything for?" she finished his sentence for him. "And you were scared of what would happen if you told me."

"Pretty much."

She let out a sigh, "Well now you know how I felt the morning after the closet happened."

"What was it about us that scared you, Lois?"

"It was the sense of security, I think," she sighed. "I could have….stayed there with you forever, Clark, and that was probably my biggest fear."

He eyed her questioningly, "Why's that?"

She rolled her eyes, hindsight making her disgusted with her behavior almost four years ago, "I could see myself staying with you, that's why. Settling down. I was terrified of that."

"And now?" he asked softly, inwardly processing this information for future reference.

"Now I have Elizabeth," she murmured, "And the ironic part is that the sense of terror I thought I'd have when faced with such a weight holding me in one place never actually happened. She's not really a weight so much as a balloon on a string. I'm tethered to her, and she's tethered to me but from the first second I held her, I loved it. The security, the unconditional love the….sense of purpose. She gives meaning to my life in ways I never thought I'd find."

"And as for my behavior the morning after, I'm sorry for that. I guess I didn't know myself as well as I thought I did."

"If it makes you feel better, I didn't know myself as well as I thought I did either," Clark said quietly.

"No," she yawned again. "You didn't. And now you're back and…you've really changed in four years."

"Thanks," he nodded, "I think."

"Oh that was a compliment. I like how you've changed."

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow and adjusted his position on the couch.

"Yes really," she murmured.

"Well….good," he replied, not knowing what else to say to that.

From her horizontal position on the couch, Lois adjusted the pillow under her head and tried to stave off sleep. She had more things to say before she finally dropped off.

Clark reached across her and took the uncapped bottle of water off the end table, re-capping it before clearing his throat, noticing as he had reached how drowsy Lois was. If he didn't do something about it soon, she would sleeping on the couch tonight, "Maybe you should go to bed, Lois. Sleep it off."

"And I'm planning on it," she yawned, cracking her eyes open and looking at her watch. It was almost midnight. Tomorrow was Thursday though-her day off-so she and Elizabeth could afford to sleep in.

It was this thought that prompted her to speak again.

She eyed Clark, hoping he'd say yes, "Want to stay the night?"

Clark froze, the plastic of the bottle he had been placing on the coffee table crackling as he inadvertently squeezed it, "What?"

She slowed down. Obviously Clark was being stupid tonight, "Do you want to stay the night?"

He set the bottle on the coffee table and sat up again, ""I thought I'd try asking you out first, actually."


	16. Part 15

**Part 15**

Lois woke up to the sound of her daughter giggling in the other room.

With a groan, she cracked her eyes open…..and shut them quickly as the sun coming through her window sent a wave of pain through her head.

Why had she let Chloe talk her into that last Cosmopolitan?

She rolled over in the bed, away from the sun, and opened her eyes again to find out what time it was. Normally on a Thursday she would let Elizabeth-and herself-sleep in until 9 and then they'd get up and run errands together until they either finished Lois' list of 'To Do's' or Elizabeth grew tired of running around Metropolis with her mother and expressed her desire to go home.

Bleary eyes showed the time to be almost 10 AM.

Lois' eyes widened as she heard Elizabeth laugh again, followed by the clatter of a pan against the floor. She sat up, panicked now, and practically sprinted out of bed. Inwardly, she berated herself for being such a bad mother and letting her almost four year old go this long without supervision while she slept in.

She stopped dead in her tracks though as she took in what was actually going on in the kitchen. There, sitting at the kitchen table was her daughter coloring in a coloring book between giggles of amusement….

….while the source of her entertainment stood at the stove, flipping what looked like chocolate chip pancakes.

Apparently, Lois shouldn't have worried.

Clark turned, "Lois! I thought you were asleep."

"I was," she walked over and sat down next to Elizabeth, her brow furrowing as she tried to remember why Clark was here. Pieces of the previous night began to slowly fall back into place, "But then I woke up and looked at the clock."

"Forgot you asked me to stay, didn't you?" he shot her a knowing look tinged with what she thought looked like smugness.

She nodded, still trying to figure out how that had happened but grateful all the same. Even if she couldn't remember completely what had happened the night before, at least she knew she had been responsible enough to make sure that their daughter was supervised this morning.

Panic forgotten now, her hangover made itself known again, and she raised a hand to her suddenly throbbing head and winced.

"Well, we looked in on you about 9 and you were still asleep so we thought we'd leave you to it," Clark, remembering that look on Lois' face from their earlier days when she had lived at the farm, grabbed a cup out of the cupboard and filled it with water before looking back. "Chloe still wanted to sleep when I checked on her this morning."

"You went over to see Chloe?" Lois arched an eyebrow, surprised enough by this that she stopped rubbing her head.

A low chuckle escaped Clark as he remembered the experience. He had made Elizabeth stay in the living room while he checked on Chloe and he had been glad of it when he saw the state his best friend was in, "Um-hm. Held back her hair and everything."

"Oh no," she murmured, a pang of sympathy for her cousin rising-and making her glad she didn't suffer from the effects of alcohol the same way. She had a headache and probably wouldn't be able to handle large doses of sunshine without sunglasses for the rest of the day but at least her stomach wasn't rebelling, "Was she okay?"

"Oh yeah," Clark reached for the bottle of aspirin, bringing it and the glass of water over to Lois and setting them on the table. "I sent her back to bed with a glass of water and some aspirin and then called her in sick."

"Thanks," she murmured, opening the bottle and taking two of the painkillers out, "Perry must have loved that."

"Um-hm. You should have heard him when I took the morning off too," he reached for plates. "Chocolate chip or plain pancakes, Elizabeth?"

Lois rolled her eyes as she swallowed her pills, listening as her daughter proclaimed in a loud voice that she wanted chocolate chip. It wasn't that she was jealous of Elizabeth and Clark's relationship per se, it was just that she missed being the centre of her little girl's world. Since Clark had come into her life, he had been all that Elizabeth talked about.

Clark shot Lois a look, knowing full well that she was a little jealous of the newness of his and Elizabeth's relationship. They were still figuring out things about each other and that made him infinitely more interesting to their daughter right now. Lois on the other hand, had been there since the beginning which, if he had to be completely honest, was a position he would have gladly traded for being Elizabeth's favorite person right now.

"And what kind do YOU want, Lois?" his expression faltered as, at the last moment, he remembered how much she had had to drink the night before, "Unless you just feel like water this morning."

She took a sip of her water pointedly and shook her head, "Headache, yes. Sensitivity to the sun? You bet. But I'm not feeling sick and furthermore, I'm starving. Besides that, know how much I love chocolate. I'll have the same as Elizabeth."

"Coming right up," he turned back to the stove, having bypassed the chocolate comment completely. Yes, he did know how much Lois loved chocolate.

Vividly in fact.

It was this train of thought that, having unknowingly fallen into a weird sense of belonging in Lois' apartment, brought him back to the reality of his situation this morning. It also made him realize that the contract had probably been a good thing to make her sign because it looked like he was going to have to jog her memory if he wanted to actually go on that date with her the next evening.

Judging from the fact that Lois hadn't either a) accused him of taking advantage of her drunken state or b) turned beet red in embarrassment yet, he was fairly certain that she couldn't remember the events of the night before.

He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not because that meant that he was the one who was going to have to tell her.

"Lois?" he said after a moment, his curiosity getting the better of him as he turned around with two plates of food.

"Yeah?" she stifled a yawn and looked up from the picture she had been watching Elizabeth color in her coloring book.

He gulped, unsure of how to approach what he was about to ask about, and sat the plates down on the table, "Do you….do you remember much of last night?"

She shook her head and picked up her fork, "Bits and pieces. I remember coming home and tripping over myself getting in the door, but that's when it starts to get a little fuzzy. I'm pretty sure that you and I talked, which would explain why you're here this morning…..

She looked him in the eye and winked, "It's nice to know I was a responsible drunk at least…but other than that, I'm not sure. Why?"

Clark went back to the stove, fixed himself a plate and sat down on the other side of Elizabeth, before continuing.

He adjusted his position in the chair, reaching for the piece of paper in the back pocket of his jeans. With a sigh, he handed it to her and purposely turned his attention to his meal.

"What is thi…" Lois trailed off as pieces of the night before fell into place more rapidly. There had been the stumbling in the door, the friendly banter in her kitchen and then….the contract he had made her sign.

Because he didn't trust her not to change her mind about how she felt again.

Lois shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. She really couldn't blame him on that one; if she were in his position, she probably would have made her sign a contract too.

Nonetheless, she couldn't help but drop her jaw as she read the third line where Clark had lined out how much responsibility she was going to take for any words and/or actions she had let herself say and/or do while drunk and talking to him the night before, "Was this really necessary?"

Clark shot her a look over his glasses that clearly stated that yes, it had been necessary, and went back to his breakfast.

She scowled, hating that he knew her well enough to assume that she would put her walls back up after the conversation that she had only started to remember, "I hate it when you look at me like that. You don't even need glasses so why wear them? Oh, that's right! So you can give me that look you know I hate."

Elizabeth looked at he mother and raised an eyebrow, "Mommy, are you okay?"

"Sure sweetie," Lois murmured and then, in a voice she knew only Clark could hear, "Mommy might just have to kill Daddy, though."

Clark let out a snort of laughter from across the table.

"So," Lois leaned back in her chair, resigned that in her drunkenness she had sabotaged herself in her efforts to go slowly with her new relationship with Clark. Friends first, she had decided, and then maybe, if the fire was still there, something more, "Friday then."

He nodded, "Friday. And wear something warm; we might be flying somewhere."

"Flying? As in…."

He shook his head. They weren't playing this game today, "As in it's a surprise, Lois. Just make sure you're wearing warm, comfortable clothes and a jacket. Gloves might be a good thing to bring too; it's getting cold out there."

She raised an eyebrow, "That would be because it's November, Clark. Tends to get cold in Kansas round about this time of year. And who says I want to go to this place that requires me to dress warmly?"

He shrugged non-chalantly, "You can plan the next date."

She looked at him, half serious and half sarcastic with her next words, "And who says that there'll be a next date?"

He set his fork down on the side of his empty plate and looked at her, "You said you wanted to find out if this was real, Lois," he murmured, serious now, "It's not something we can find out in one date."

She paused, wishing she could remember completely, "And when did I say this?"

"Last night. Right after you told me…." His eyes glanced to his daughter and he stopped talking.

The conversation he and Lois were on the verge of having was too old for Elizabeth.

Lois raised an eyebrow, taking a closer mental look at the foggy memories. A blush rose quickly as she remembered the circumstances-and reasons- that had necessitated her insistence that they find out if their relationship was real or not. It also brought to mind what she had given up in her drunkenness.

It had been a smart move on her part to emphasize up front that she wasn't intending to have sex with Clark anytime soon but it also meant that she wouldn't be having sex with Clark anytime soon and that, in the sober light of day, was something her inner Id was currently screaming at her about.

Clark cleared his throat uncomfortably, figuring out by the blush that her mind had taken her to the point of the conversation he had been referring to, "You don't have to be embarrassed. You were drunk."

She let out a groan, "And clearly I should stay away from the vodka next time; it always brings out the truth in me."

She looked him in the eye and shook her head, "I'm sorry for my behavior. I'm sure it was….unexpected."

"Unexpected, yes. But not something to be sorry over," he shrugged, "Lois, I've been trying to get up the courage to ask you out for weeks now."

A small smile quirked up the corner of her mouth, "Really?"

He nodded sheepishly, "Um-hm."

"Well…" she murmured, looking down, unsure of what to say to that. The truth had seemed to work for her last night though… "I'm glad you did. Ask me out that is."

He shifted in his chair, "Good."

"Good," she murmured again, her eyes meeting his and locking his gaze with her own. That familiar feeling she remembered from the very first 'date' they had been on-the one Chloe had had them fake for her-rushed back and she felt herself lean forward slightly, watching as Clark did the same.

She stopped just in time, mindful of their daughter's presence in the room and stifled a groan.

This was going to be harder than she thought.

"So…." she attempted to change the subject, "You took the morning off?"

"I thought you'd want to sleep in," he shrugged, catching his breath from the near kiss. "And, although my Mom would have loved to have Elizabeth visit with her and my Dad for the day, I thought she and I would spend the morning together before I had to go in."

"What time is Perry expecting you into the office, then?" Lois asked. Clark needed to leave. He was making her too uncomfortable…

He shrugged, wondering where she was going with this, "About noon. Why?"

She turned to look at Elizabeth who, in the absence of her parents attention, had finished her breakfast and gone back to the picture she had been coloring. Lois looked down at her empty plate and stood up, "You still need to pick up your dry cleaning, remember? And you've got that interview at 12:30 you haven't prepared for."

He quirked an eyebrow in her direction, "Are you trying to get rid of me, Lois?"

"No!" she said defensively, opening the dishwasher and starting to load it. Getting rid of him was exactly what she was trying to do, "It's just that this is Elizabeth and my errand day and we've got things to do so…."

"You ARE trying to get rid of me," he stood up, knowing there was more to this sudden change than that but choosing to let it go. He DID need to pick up his dry cleaning after all, and he DID have an interview at 12:30 that he hadn't prepared for. He had been meaning to the evening before but then Lois had come home and those plans had gone out the window. He handed her his dirty plate, "Have fun with your errands then."

"We will," Lois winced at his tone, only just managing to hide her expression as she turned away from her task and looked at him, "Oh and Clark?"

Clark leaned down to give Elizabeth a hug, "Um-hm?"

Lois watched as he hugged their daughter and gave her a kiss good-bye. She shook her head to clear the overly sentimental thoughts that had inadvertently sprung to mind watching the sight of father and daughter say good-bye and continued, "Make sure you ask our source about his proximity to the mob boss, will you? If we do a good enough job with this piece than I won't be the only one getting a Kerth next year."

"Will do, Lois," he nodded, "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Actually," she ran a hand through her hair again, feeling guilty that she was throwing him out but knowing that it was necessary. She needed time to think and she couldn't do it if he was here with her, "I was thinking of making a going away dinner for Chloe since she's going to be packing tomorrow night and I was wondering…."

He didn't let her finish, "What time do you need me here?"

"Is 7 alright?"

He nodded, "Sounds perfect."

Clark looked at his watched and sighed, dropping another kiss on Elizabeth's forehead before turning to go into the hallway to retrieve his coat and shoes.

For a moment, he thought that Lois was just going to let him see himself out and his heart fell. Maybe there would only be one date after all….

He was pleased to find that he was wrong though as she stepped out into the hallway and leaned against the wall, watching him put on his shoes.

"Do you need me to pick up anything for tonight?" he asked, standing up from tying his shoelaces and grabbing his coat from the closet.

She shook her head, "No. Elizabeth and I'll take care of that when we run our errands today."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, just bring yourself," she cleared her throat, "Thanks for breakfast this morning by the way. I didn't get to thank you for that."

"You're welcome."

"And…" she stopped him as his hand fell on the doorknob. "I'm sorry for making you leave like this."

Clark's hand fell away from the doorknob, "Lois, I know you. You need time to think and you can't do that with me here. I get it."

Lois looked at him, shocked, "You know why I'm doing this then? And you're not upset?"

He shrugged, a half-hearted look on his face, "I'm not happy about it but it's what you need and I accept that. Sometimes I need to think alone too."

A smug look upturned his smile now, "Besides, you already said you'd go out with me and I've got the contract to prove it."

"An ill-gotten contract," she glared at him.

"Doesn't matter. We're still going out Friday because you know what, Lois?"

"What?"

He leaned closer and looked down at her, his eyes meeting hers and making her melt a little with the feelings that suddenly flared up between them, "I want to find out if what we have is real, too."

And with that, he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, "See you tonight, Lois."

"Yeah," she nodded, "See you tonight, Clark."


	17. Part 16

**Part 16**

Lois looked over at the clock on the nightstand across the room, the sound of knocking at the door having broken her concentration, and swore.

"Mommy, you're not supposed to use that word!" Elizabeth chastised her mother from her seat on the bed.

Lois put down the earrings she had been trying to put on, "Sorry Honey, it just slipped out."

She stood up and turned, stopping to pick up her daughter before starting down the hallway towards the door.

"Is it Daddy?" Elizabeth murmured.

"Maybe," Lois raised her arm and looked at her watch. She furrowed her eyebrows. If it WAS Clark, he was early. "It's probably Jimmy."

She sat Elizabeth down and opened the door, relieved to find that it was Jimmy, and not Clark that stood in the hallway.

"Hi Lois," Jimmy stepped into the apartment, closing the door behind him.

"Hey Jimmy," she nodded at him, "I wasn't expecting you until about ten to."

He shrugged, "I got out of the office sooner than I thought I would. Besides, it's been awhile since I've baby-sat for the munchkin here and I've missed her."

Elizabeth let out a giggle and reached for his hand, "I missed you too, Uncle Jimmy."

"Well that's comforting to know," Jimmy smiled and crouched down until he was at eye level with the almost four year old.

"Wanna see the pictures Mommy let me take with the camera you got for me?" Elizabeth said, excitement in her voice. 

"Do I ever!" Jimmy stood up and took her hand, looking over his shoulder at Lois and winking as the smaller Lane dragged him off to her room.

The camera in question had been something that Jimmy had picked up at a photography show, a novelty item specifically made for children and Elizabeth had been taking pictures like her 'Uncle Jimmy' since she had received it.

Smiling as her daughter's voice carried into the hallway, she went back to her bedroom and sat down at the vanity, picking up the earrings she had abandoned earlier. She slipped them on and picked up a tube of lipstick, pausing a moment and furrowing her brow as she thought about whether this date warranted lipstick. It was Clark, after all, and he HAD said to dress casually.

"Better go with something neutral," she muttered to herself, putting down the red and picking up the peach.

"Lois?"

"Yeah Jimmy?" she called into the hall, putting the lipstick on and re-capping the stick.

He popped his head in the door, "Do you have chocolate chips?"

She raised an eyebrow, "What do you and Elizabeth need chocolate chips for, Jimmy?"

He shrugged, "I thought we'd make cookies tonight."

"Alright," she murmured warily and stood up, grabbing the peach lipstick off the vanity. "Just don't burn down my kitchen."

"Will do, Lois," he nodded, and disappeared around the corner of the door.

Lois turned and walked to her bedside table, picking up her wallet and cell phone before moving to her closet to pick up the purse she had chosen for the evening.

"Oh, and Lois?" Jimmy popped his head around the corner of the door again.

"Yeah?"

He raised an eyebrow and slanted a grin in her direction, "I realize it's none of my business but who're you going out with tonight anyway? I mean, he must be something special; you look like a girl tonight."

She crossed her arms, "Jimmy, I AM a girl."

"Yeah," he nodded, "But tonight you look it."

Lois nodded, "And this is different than how I normally look how?"

Jimmy looked at her incredulously, "Lois, you're wearing lipstick and you have cleavage. I mean, come on."

"Jimmy," she shook her head, crossing her arms to hide the aforementioned cleavage and purposely choosing to ignore that he had mentioned it at all; the shirt she had chosen wasn't THAT bad and besides, she was going to be in a jacket for at least the beginning of the date so what did it matter anyways…."I wear lipstick at work."

He stepped into the room, "I'm just saying……."

She scowled and picked up her purse from the floor, "You're saying nothing, Jimmy. Absolutely nothing. This is just a date. Just an ordinary, simple, date."

"Yeah, but with WHO, Lois?" he followed her out of the room, stopping in the middle of the hallway to grin as the doorbell rang. "Guess we'll find out, won't we?"

Lois turned at the door to glare at him, "Jimmy, before I open this door, you have to promise that you won't gossip about this at work, alright? This is my life and I won't have you making it into something I'm going to hear about again in the ladies room."

His eyes widened, "Is it really that good? You're not dating Lex Luthor, are you? Or Bruce Wayne?"

"Jimmy!" Lois' voice rose in warning, "This is serious, alright? Not a word."

"Alright," he threw his hands up, "I'll keep quiet about it."

"Thank you," she began to open the door, "I don't even know if this first date is going to warrant a second date anyways, so…..

"Wow Lois," Clark walked in the doorway, "Thanks for the vote of confidence. Guess I'll have to change your mind, won't I?"

"CK?" Jimmy furrowed his brow in confusion, "You're not….."

"Here to go out with Lois? Yeah actually, I am," he smiled lightly at the photographer.

Jimmy's jaw dropped in shock before he recovered, if only slightly, "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Lois broke in, annoyed, "Seriously."

She reached into the closet for her jacket, choosing to move on rather than dwell on the revelation they had just unleashed on Jimmy, "Now, she goes to bed at 8 at the latest, all the numbers you'll need are on the fridge and again, try not to burn the kitchen down. Chloe's across the hall if you need her but she's packing so only go over if it's an emergency."

"Did you want me to go get Elizabeth?" Jimmy piped up, still only slightly recovered, "I'm sure she'll want to see you off."

Lois exchanged a quick look with Clark, "No, that's okay. We said good-night earlier and…."

"Daddy!" Elizabeth, having heard her father's voice earlier and poked her head out her room to see if it was actually him, rushed down the hallway and threw her arms around her father's leg.

"…and I was really hoping we could avoid feeding the water cooler talk tonight," Lois muttered under her breath. Knowing she was going out with her partner was enough to keep the gossip mongers talking for weeks to come without them figuring out that that same partner was the mysterious father of her child that she never mentioned.

Clark squeezed her hand gently, silently acknowledging that he had hoped the same thing before stooping down in from of Elizabeth, "And how are you tonight, Elizabeth?"

"I showed Uncle Jimmy my pictures," she let Clark pick her up and set her on his hip.

"Did you now?" he murmured, keeping an eye on the shock in 'Uncle Jimmy's' eyes and the emotions that were flickering across his whole face at the moment.

Elizabeth, oblivious to the drama that was going on under the surface, continued to talk, "And he said that they were really good and one day I could be a picture taker for the Daily Planet just like he is!"

"Not a reporter, like Mommy?" Clark asked.

She shook her head, "No. Mommy gets into too much trouble and I don't like getting into trouble. Mommy talks really loud and fast when I get into trouble."

Clark nodded, remembering the last lecture he had received from Lois concerning his 'extra-curricular activities,' "Yes she does."

"Does the chief know?" Jimmy finally croaked out, shock having temporarily removed his voice.

"Does the chief know what?" Lois put her jacket on before moving on to her scarf and mitts.

"That Clark is…..I mean, that he's……"

"Elizabeth's father?" Lois raised an eyebrow, "No. He doesn't. Now, did you have any questions about the numbers I left or who to call in case of an emergency?"

"No," he shook his head.

"Good," she nodded, "Elizabeth, Daddy and I are going out for a few hours, alright?"

Elizabeth smiled kissed her father's cheek before reaching out to do the same to her mother, "Okay."

She dropped a kiss on her mother's lips noisily before motioning to be let down and, once on the ground, took off running to her room.

Lois ran a hand through her hair before turning apprehensive eyes towards Jimmy, still standing in the hallway. She opened her mouth to say something, anything…..

Clark beat her to the chase though, "Jimmy, we'd like this kept quiet, alright?"

"Fine, CK," Jimmy murmured. He furrowed his brow and shook his head, "I always thought you two had chemistry and now it makes sense."

"What makes sense?" Lois asked quietly.

"The Mulder/Scully vibe I've been getting from the two of you since you've been working together," he crossed his arms, a small smile pulling up the corners of his mouth. 

"The Mulder/Scully vibe?" Lois let out a huff of anger, her breath leaving a cloud in front of her face. "What exactly does he mean by that?"

Clark shrugged and tightened his grip on her hand as they walked up to the roof of the apartment building, "Well, you DO have a tendency to shoot down my best theories."

She shot him a glare, "Meteor freaks do not make good, creditable stories or sources, Clark."

"Well, he might have meant the other thing they were known for."

Lois looked at him blankly and continued to move up the stairs.

"The unresolved sexual tension?" Clark asked, finally.

She scowled, "We're VERY professional at work, Clark. There is no unresolved sexual tension."

He was silent a moment. Lois was lying to herself again because even he had been aware of the tension between them since he had started working at the Daily Planet. He let out a breath, "Right Lois. And that's why you made me promise that there would be no sex tonight."

"I was drunk," she glared at him.

His lips curled into a smirk.

"Would you stop that?" she stopped as they reached the end of the stairway, her hand on the door that would take them out to the roof. 

"I'm not doing anything," Clark beat her to the door handle and pulled it open for her.

"Yes, you are," she argued.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you…." She stopped herself, looking him in the eye before letting out a groan.

"What?" he asked, furrowing his brow in confusion, his smirk rapidly turning into a quasi-worried half smile.

"Nothing," she shut her eyes, trying to ignore the UST that suddenly was screaming at her to resolve. She wouldn't ever tell Clark, but fighting with him was almost as good as kissing him and thus, she had come to a conclusion.

"Lois?"

"UST implies that it was left unresolved and Elizabeth is proof positive that it was resolved," she muttered, sounding (even to herself) like she was trying to convince both of them of this.

"So you don't think there's anything like that between us anymore?" he stood next to her.

"No I….don't! Clark!" she let out a yelp of surprise as he lifted her into his arms and began to fly.

She looked down, "Should you be doing this without your suit? Someone could see us. And where are we going anyway?"

"You're changing the subject, Lois," he went higher and picked up speed, "Definite sign of UST."

Lois, realizing that even if she tried to respond to this she wouldn't be able to hear Clark's answer over the wind that was now howling in her ears, made a mental note to kill Jimmy when she got back.


	18. Part 17

**Part 17**

"Clark?" Lois tried to see around the blindfold that he had made her put on shortly after they had reached the edge of Metropolis.

"Um-hm?"

"Where are you taking me?"

Clark ignored the question as he looked down on the ground towards their destination and concentrated on landing.

"Clark?"

He didn't answer, releasing the furrow of his brow as he found the spot he was looking for.

"Smallville?" she asked again, impatient. The blindfold had been a bad idea in her opinion. She liked to see where she was going and didn't like surprises much. "WHERE are you taking me?"

Clark landed on the ground gently, "Here actually."

She reached up to remove the blindfold but was stopped halfway through the action. Her hand dropped to her side in exasperation, "Clark!"

"You'll be able to see in a moment," he shushed her and looked over the area, noticing the few touches he had to take care of before everything was perfect. With one hand behind Lois's back, he lead her into the centre and helped her sit down on the blanket he had laid out earlier.

"Okay," she sat her hands on the blanket, trying to gauge by her other senses where she was. They were outside still, she could tell, and in the countryside somewhere because she couldn't hear anything but the wind. She scrunched up her nose as the smell of burning wood suddenly filled the air, "What are you doing?"

"You'll see," Clark assured her from about ten feet away if her hearing was correct and, from the sound of it, continued to stoke the fire.

"Right," she muttered, breathing out softly and trying to keep from shivering. Clark's body had kept her warm as they had flown but now, sitting on the blanket over the cold ground, she was quickly cooling off. "Is freezing me to death by any chance on the agenda tonight?"

She listened closely as Clark moved around wherever they were and then everything went quiet, "Clark?"

"You can take off the blindfold now," he murmured, right next to her ear.

She jumped, surprised, and took off the blindfold. Her eyes widened as she saw where they were, "Well, this is…..unexpected."

"Unexpected?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah. I mean, we're in the middle of a cornfield."

He looked at her pointedly, "But not just any cornfield."

"Not just any cornfield?" she quirked her right eyebrow at him and looked around again, "I'll admit it's pretty….a little bare….but it looks like every other snow covered cornfield I've ever seen."

She looked around, squinting suspiciously as she saw the road not so far away and suddenly it all came back to her, "Oh God. Is this where we…."

"First met?" he smiled at her, "Yeah. It is."

She looked around at what he had done to make the simple spot in the cornfield suitable for a first date and felt her heart melt a bit, "You are," she shook her head in wonder before looking him in the eye, "the sweetest man sometimes."

"Sometimes?" he grinned teasingly.

"Yeah," she grinned back, letting out a short, soundless chuckle. "Not all the time, but sometimes."

Clark cleared his throat, pleased at her reaction but not willing to dwell on it lest Lois get too uncomfortable with how quickly they were falling back into old habits. He had gotten her to go out with him, that had been his first goal. Now he had to get her to want to go out with him a second time, and then a third and then……

….and then…..

He sat down next to her on the blanket and put his romantic fantasy aside, "So did you want to just sit here all night or do you want to see what else I put together?"

"There's more?"

He nodded, "Of course there's more."

She raised an eyebrow, "By all means then…..show me."

Clark stood up and gestured towards the fire, "Here we have the means by which I will keep you from freezing this evening."

She winced, regretting her earlier remark, "Clark, I wasn't serious when I said that earlier. You know that right?"

"I know," he moved towards the picnic basket he had packed.

If he let her apologize for everything that came out of her mouth then they would spend the rest of their lives making and listening to apologies. One of the things he both loved and hated most about Lois was her ability to say what she thought without worrying about the consequences. It got her into trouble, yes, but it also was one of the reasons she had become such a big part of his life years ago.

Unlike most of the other people in his life at the time, Lois had been a challenge. She was rude, arrogant and they had rubbed each other the wrong way from day one but that was what had, ironically, kept him coming back for more. He had both avoided and anticipated spending any time with her because it brought out a side of him he didn't normally let out. In short, she had always let him be himself with her (encouraged it, even), while at the same time not being afraid to let him know how stupid or selfish he was being.

And he had been VERY selfish and stupid back then.

He cleared his throat and picked up the aforementioned picnic basket, "And here we have dinner, accompanied by your favorite red wine and closely followed by your favorite dessert."

Lois' eyes widened, "Your Mom's chocolate fudge cake?"

Clark nodded, somewhat sheepishly and he came and sat down, the picnic basket following him, "She made it specially for you when she heard I had finally managed to get you to go out with me."

A laugh escaped Lois, "Finally, eh?"

"Yes, finally," Clark nodded, rooting around in the basket for plates and cutlery. "You'd think I'd convinced you to marry me or something the way she carried on….."

He trailed off and went red as he realized what he had just said.

Lois went silent and took the plates from his hands, "One step at a time, Smallville."

She cleared her throat and took the basket away from him, eager to break the tension that now lay between them toxically, "Let me guess…she mentioned something about grandchildren too, didn't she?"

"Yes!" he said in exasperation, taking the cutlery she had just found out of her hands and setting them down next to the plates.

Lois looked at him knowingly and nodded her head, "Yeah, she does that. Elizabeth wasn't even a year old when she started with that actually. She was convinced that as soon as you came back we would pick up where we had left off, get married, and give her more grandchildren."

"And what did you tell her?" he asked warily, taking the container of mixed vegetables from Lois and opening it.

She shrugged, "I asked her why we had to be married before we gave her more grandchildren."

"Lois!" he nearly dropped the vegetables onto the plate he was filling.

"Anyway," she continued on, a mischievous look on her face as she pulled out the container of pasta, "She stopped when I told her she was dreaming too big."

Clark reached past her into the basket and pulled out the bottle of wine. Lois handed him the glasses and he opened the bottle and began to fill them, watching out of the corner of his eyes as Lois began to pile fettucine alfredo onto their plates, "Why too big?"

She finished with the plates and took the glass of wine he offered her, looking at him pointedly, "If you take that as a challenge and propose on the first date I'm going to be very upset."

He nodded and heated up the food on her plate before handing it to her, "Duly noted. Guess I'll have to put that ring away until next time."

"Ha ha," she took the plate and sat in on the ground in front of her, "You don't really have a ring with you, do you?"

A low chuckle answered her, "No, Lois. I don't have a ring. Why? Should I?"

"No," she let out a laugh of relief that Clark was letting them take their time on this. She had been terribly afraid that, with this first date, he was going to push for something she wasn't ready for.

Not that she hadn't thought about. White picket fences and happily ever afters weren't really her thing but damned if she hadn't thought about them the past few years.

Although the idea of it would have sent her younger self running in the other direction and she recognized that, at the moment, neither was ready for it, she had the feeling that happily ever after was something she would enjoy with Clark Kent.

White picket fence and all.

"Good," he heated his own plate up and took a bite, oblivious to the fantasies that were running through his date's mind. "To be completely honest, I don't think we're ready for that just yet."

Lois leaned back on the blanket, on her side, and placed her plate next to her. She took a bite of pasta, "To be completely honest, I don't think we are either. Despite what your mother says."

Clark mimicked Lois' movements and stretched out next to her, "She just wants us both happy. And she wants Elizabeth happy."

She shook her head, "We ARE happy. And so's Elizabeth."

"Yes she is," he took a sip of wine, "But are we REALLY happy, Lois, or is that just something we tell my mother?"

"Well, we're here," she raised an eyebrow and matched his sip of wine with one of her own, "And we're re-building what we knocked down together so that must mean something. Happiness is relative, Clark."

She drained the rest of her glass and sat up to retrieve the bottle, refilling both their glasses and putting the cork back in before setting it carefully back into the basket. She leaned back and looked at him, "And I heard somewhere that half the battle of any relationship is showing up."

He shook his head, amused at her antics. One hand came up and, even though he knew he shouldn't, brushed against her cheek gently, "I'm glad you showed up tonight."

Lois let herself fall into his eyes a bit before catching herself. She cleared her throat, "So am I."

She shook her head and raised her glass, eager to change the topic any way she could, "To showing up."

"To showing up," he answered, dropping his hand from her cheek as he took a sip of his wine.

The smile dropped off her face slightly as she sipped her own, the warmth where his palm had been on her face suddenly cold.

Clark went back to his meal and watched as Lois did the same, both of them silent for the moment as they ate.

Lois broke the silence eventually, her fork startling Clark as it was set gently down onto the edge of the plate, "So what do you think Elizabeth has Jimmy doing with her now?"

He set his plate aside and smiled, recognizing Lois' attempt at changing the subject and appreciating it. Things were getting far too serious for a first date, "Well, since it's past 9, she's probably asleep."

"Hopefully anyway," Lois let out a short chuckle. "Although tomorrow's your day off isn't it? So you'd have to deal with her if she's cranky tomorrow morning."

Clark drained the last dregs of wine from his glass as he thought about the prospect of a cranky Elizabeth. Granted, they were only going to visit his parents the next day and that would certainly help but, since Elizabeth reminded him of Lois when she was cranky and tired….. he cleared his throat and nodded his head, "Yeah. Let's hope she wasn't channeling your skills of persuasion tonight then."

"Hey!" she punched his arm playfully. "How do you know they're not your skills of persuasion? She's your daughter too and I'll have you know she channels YOU when she's tired and cranky. Best of luck tomorrow by the way."

"Oh really?" he raised an eyebrow, preparing to counter her argument, "The one time I let her stay up later than 8 o'clock the night before we went to visit my parents, she practically growled at me when I got her up the next day and then pouted for the rest of the morning. Remind you of anyone else?"

She sent him a sarcastic glare for his troubles, "Well what time did you get her up?"

He shrugged, "6:30. She wanted to help my Dad with the cows."

Lois finished her glass of wine and sat the empty glass next to his in the grass close to the blanket, "Well there's your problem. She's not a morning person."

Clark simply looked at Lois pointedly.

"That doesn't mean anything," she sat up and crossed her arms.

He continued to look at her, a smirk gradually building on his face.

"Okay, so she's like a tiny me," Lois admitted finally, making them both laugh. "That's not so bad is it?"

"No," he shook his head, still laughing. "I'm just glad you can admit it."

"Of course I can admit it," she laid back down on the blanket, her skin flushed lightly from the two glasses of wine she had consumed. "And it serves me right actually. My father always did say that someday I would have a daughter exactly like me and now it's happened."

Clark watched her from across the blanket, "God help us all."

She hit him again, missing her mark slightly at the last moment, moving her body closer to him without meaning to, "At least we'll know ahead of time that she's inclined to skip the country occasionally and date unsuitable men just to annoy her father."

He grimaced, thoughts of his daughter dating terrifying him. He moved over onto his back and tried to push it out of his mind, "Lois, didn't I tell you? She's not allowed to date until she's thirty."

Lois snorted, "You keep telling yourself that, Smallville."

She rolled onto her side, closer to him and, impulsively, cushioned her head on his chest, "So where are you taking her tomorrow? She seemed excited about something this morning."

"We're just going to Mom and Dad's," he watched as she tossed her hair back from her shoulder and made herself more comfortable. His arm came to up, bringing her closer and making them both more comfortable at the same time.

She let out a snort, "That makes sense then."

They fell silent, Lois' weight on his chest and his arm on her body making words between them unnecessary.

Lois fought the urge to move even closer against him, knowing that they were already closer then they should be on a first date-at least a first date between Clark and Lois.

Clark and Lois, after all, had skipped the dating part the first time around and went straight to the making out naked portion of their relationship, closely followed by meeting each other in the biblical sense up against her closet door. Not that Lois hadn't enjoyed this. On the contrary, she thought she-they if she wanted to be completely honest about it-had enjoyed it a little too much for their own good.

Which was why she thought they could both do with an extremely slowed down version of what they should have originally had-if only to make that fantasy about white picket fences she shouldn't have been dreaming about come true.

From beside her, Clark pulled her closer and, against her best intentions, she found herself letting him.

As long as they didn't kiss, she tried to convince herself, everything would be fine.

She looked up at him, finding herself smiling as he smiled back at her and suddenly, he was leaning in towards her….

Lois raised a hand just in time, "No."

"Lois, it's just a kiss," he murmured.

"Remember what I told you?" she lowered her hand, "Right here, right now, it's not going to be just a kiss."

Clark's smile faltered and he nodded, "Right."

With a sigh, he got up and moved towards the fire, picking up a piece of wood and putting it on the flames.

"Clark…." She tried, "I'm sorry, it's just…."

"Lois, it's fine. You're right."

She paused a moment and then… "You get to kiss me once tonight but not now."

He looked at her incredulously, not expecting this to come out of her mouth. If anything, he would have expected her to admonish him for letting himself get caught up in the moment, "Excuse me?"

"I said," she sat up. "You get one kiss tonight. At my door. After you've walked me there. Then I know that nothing will happen to speed this up and make us both more confused than we already are."

"Okay," he murmured after a moment, bemused at this turn of events. "One kiss."

"And I mean one," she said sternly, almost as if she was disciplining herself as well. "One as in no tongue, no bracing me up against something, and definitely no hands in inappropriate places."

"Sure," he nodded. "I'll look forward to it."

"As will I," she reached for the basket. "Now come on. We have the rest of the bottle of wine and that cake of your Mom's to finish and I for one would love to hear an embarrassing story from your childhood."

He raised an eyebrow, "Embarrassing, eh?"

Lois reached over and grabbed their wine glasses from the edge of the blanket, "Very."

He let out a chuckle and sat down on the blanket next to Lois, taking the full glass of wine she handed him, "Okay then. Has Mom ever told you about when my super speed ability began to show up?"

"No, I don't think I've heard that one," she shook her head and began to fix plates of cake for the both of them.

He leaned forward, "You do realize that if I tell you this story, I'm expecting a story in return."

Lois tapped her head and smiled, "Never fear, Smallville. I've got one all ready for you."

"Excellent," he took a sip of the wine in his hand and began to talk….


	19. Part 18

**Part 18**

Lois closed the door to her apartment and leaned back against it, lips still tingling from the kiss she had made them both wait for.

The way he kissed had changed in the years they had been apart. This time had been more patient and softer than any of the kisses he had given her in the past. Of course, the passionate, harsh and almost desperate embraces they had shared years ago hadn't really given either of them the chance to see the softer side both had to offer but something else had changed though and she suspected it had nothing to do with what they had both missed the first time and everything to do with what had grown in the wounds left when they had parted ways.

A helpless giggle escaped her lips before she could help herself. She didn't want to give whatever was growing between them a name just yet but one thing was certain: there was definitely going to be another date.

Another giggle erupted from her. She stifled it quickly, not wanting to wake Elizabeth up, and tried to stop smiling.

She couldn't.

"Had a good time then?"

She looked up, startled, "Chloe? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be packing."

Chloe stood up from the couch. Her cousin was glowing, something she hadn't seen her do in ages. She bit back a grin, "I finished early."

"So why aren't you in bed then?" Lois sat her purse on the floor and took off her jacket, preparing herself to fend off the fact finding mission her cousin was clearly on. She knew her too well to think otherwise…

"I wanted to know how it went," Chloe murmured smugly, knowing how it went from the look on her face but wanting to hear the words. It wasn't real for Lois, she knew, until she was forced to say the words.

"Is THAT all?" Lois tilted her head to one side. She had been right; this WAS a fact finding mission.

Chloe shrugged, intent on getting conversation where she needed it to be. After all, she wasn't going to be able to get anything out of Lois if they weren't talking about Clark. "Well, that and Jimmy called. Apparently Elizabeth wouldn't go to bed."

Lois' shoulders dropped and an exasperated look took residence on her face, covering the glow but only just barely. "She didn't."

"Oh, but she did. Tried to talk her way out of it first though. Almost got away with it too but her Aunt Chloe wasn't having any of it," Chloe bit her lip, remembering the scene she had entered when Jimmy had called. Elizabeth had been camped out on the couch reading her book in quiet defiance as Jimmy tried-unsuccessfully-to convince her to go to bed. Contrary to Jimmy's plans, Elizabeth had decided to stay up until her parents got back from Smallville.

Lois scowled and hung up her jacket, slipping her shoes off before moving into the living room to join her cousin, "I can't believe she tried that. AGAIN."

"Well, Jimmy's an easy target if it makes you feel any better," Chloe sat back down, watching as Lois did the same. "And so is your Dad when it comes to her."

"Chloe, Elizabeth's THREE. Almost four. Jimmy should not be an easy target for a four year old," she raised her eyes skyward, "And I can't even get the General to agree with me NOW let alone when I was that age. She should NOT be able to keep doing this."

Chloe looked at her cousin pointedly, "She's not exactly a typical child though. I mean, her language skills are WAY beyond any of the other kids. She has more words to use to talk her way out of things."

"I know," Lois ran a hand through her hair.

"Plus," Chloe continued, this time with a smirk on her face. "She's YOUR daughter. Of course she's going to be able to talk her way out of something as trivial as a bedtime."

Lois nodded.

"And Clark's not exactly new at talking his way out of situations. Don't get me wrong; he sucks at it sometimes but he still pulls it off somehow. Face it Lo, genetics are completely working in Elizabeth's favor with this."

"Probably," Lois mulled over this fact quietly, thinking about the gift of gab that Clark had when he wanted to. Combined with her own ability to get herself out of most situations, Chloe was right; Elizabeth was a regular verbal Houdini.

"And speaking of the father of your child," Chloe changed the subject, anxious to know if Clark and Lois' date had gone well or if it had failed horribly. From the glow and the smile on her cousin's face when she'd entered the apartment, she was willing to bet that it had gone well. Better than well even. "How did things go tonight?"

Lois couldn't help the grin from coming back, "It was….interesting."

Chloe raised an eyebrow, noting the silly smile now threatening to crack her cousin's face, "Interesting?"

"Surprising," Lois crossed her arms. "I had no idea he could be that…."

"…that?"" Chloe prompted impatiently. Clark hadn't told her anything he had planned so she was completely in the dark. Martha hadn't even been told so, unlike all the other times in the past few months that she needed information about Clark and Lois' burgeoning relationship, she hadn't been able to cut out the hearsay entirely and simply ask Clark's Mom what the story was. Needless to say, she was more than interested in what had happened.

"That romantic, actually," Lois continued, biting her lip to hold back the grin that was once again threatening to split her face in two. This was completely unlike her and she had no idea where it was coming from.

Chloe let out an uncharacteristic squeal, "What did he do?"

"Flew me out to the cornfield we met in for a picnic," she replied, remembering the long chat they had had on the blanket, the meal by firelight, the almost kiss and of course, the flight back to Metropolis. All in all it looked like dating Clark Kent-the REAL Clark Kent who was both man and Superman (both literally and figuratively) was going to be an adventure worth having.

"He kept his clothes on this time, I hope," Chloe smirked, watching as Lois flushed lightly. "He DID keep his clothes on, didn't he?"

To her credit, she didn't let the flush deepen into full on blush even though her body desperately wanted to. Seeing an attractive man naked-and then being able to reference exactly how well he was able to use that naked body –tended to do that to a girl. She cleared her throat, "And there's that faith I look forward to hearing. Yes Chloe, he kept his clothes on. So did I."

"Good," Chloe made herself more comfortable on the couch, plumping the pillow that sat behind her up and settling her back against it firmly. "As much as the Kents and your father would like more grandchildren, I for one am not ready to go through that kind of drama again."

Lois rolled her eyes and re-adjusted herself on the couch, mimicking her cousin's movements, "How many times do I have to tell you? When and if Clark and I take that step again, we're going to be more careful than last time."

Chloe looked over at her and waggled her eyebrows, "But there's going to be a when, isn't there?" she let out a short gasp, "Was there an almost 'when' tonight? Is that why you're glowing?"

Lois glared half-heartedly at her cousin, "I'd pleading the fifth on that one. And I'm not glowing. I just…."

"Can't stop smiling?" she prodded again.

"Would you stop putting words in my mouth? I CAN stop smiling. I just need….a sad thought or something or…." Lois broke off abruptly, realizing by the look on Chloe's face that it wasn't working. "Okay fine. I can't stop smiling. Are you happy now?"

"Well yeah. And so are you," she grinned, "That's the point."

"Well, happy, glowing….whatever, I'm not saying anything else on the subject."

"Oh come on, Lois. We're currently experiencing that elusive thing known as girl talk and I, as the best friend in this love story and not the leading lady, am living vicariously through you. Give a girl something more to work with."

"Not that it's any of your business…." She ignored her cousin's self-deprecating remarks and moved on, giving in without much of a fight. Chloe was her best friend after all and she could think of no one better to share this experience with than her. Besides all that, if she kept all of this happy energy to herself she was liable to become the poster girl for Prozac and that was just not her.

She opened her mouth and continued, "But yeah, if all goes well than, sooner or later….probably there will be a 'when.' Not anytime soon but, eventually." She cleared her throat, "To be completely honest, right now I'm more concerned about how the next date's going to go."

Chloe nodded, thinking back to the unexpected conversation she had had with Jimmy after she had finally gotten Elizabeth to go to bed. She cleared her throat, "Especially considering that Jimmy knows about you and Clark."

Lois turned her head sharply, "He told you he knew? Clark and I asked him not to say anything to anyone."

Her cousin shot her a strange look. Jimmy had given her the impression that Lois hadn't really cared that he knew about the 'connection' he had just discovered between Clark and Lois, "Well, he didn't ask me directly if that makes you feel any better. He just kind of….felt his way awkwardly through the conversation and I took pity on him and told him that I already knew everything."

Lois leaned her head back against the couch and sighed, "Do you think he's going to tell anyone at work?"

"Well, you asked him not to. I'm sure he…."

"Chloe," she interrupted, "Do you think he's going to tell anyone?"

Chloe bit her lip and winced. Jimmy meant well but Lois was right; he wasn't the best secret keeper.

"That's what I thought," Lois let out a groan. Her daughter was going to be water cooler gossip as of tomorrow afternoon if her mental calculations were correct.

"It's going to be fine," her cousin murmured.

Lois lifted her head, the afterglow of her and Clark's date quickly fading as she thought about what the aftermath was going to consist of. The dating part she really didn't care about but when it came to the fact that Jimmy was very likely going to be telling everyone about Elizabeth, well, that got her upset. "But what if it's not?"

Chloe breathed out through her nose, "Would that be such a bad thing? I mean, it's not like Perry's going to care as long as it doesn't affect your work."

"It's not Perry I'm worried about."

"Lois, it'll be fine," Chloe cut her off reassuringly, "What does it matter what anyone else says about Elizabeth? I mean, it's not like Clark abandoned you when you were pregnant and just chose to flake off for years on end. If you need to, tell people that you didn't know you were pregnant until after he had left and you didn't have any way of contacting him. That'll get both you and Clark off the gossip list."

"It's not Clark or myself that I'm worried about!" Lois threw up her hands in frustration. "It's Elizabeth. She's my baby, Chloe, and I don't want to see her hurt by petty gossip."

"Lois," Chloe looked at her incredulously. "She doesn't care what people say or think about her as long as her Mom and Dad are there at the end of the day to eat dinner with her or tuck her in. Preferably together."

Lois snorted, "Together. Now that's going to be the next thing that's going to get the water cooler going. Next thing you know they'll be expecting us to get married, for Clark to make an honest woman out of me since we have a child together."

"So get married. It would certainly make Martha happy," Chloe spat out without thinking, exasperated. Lois shot her a dirty look. "Or date," she amended quickly, "Be 'just friends'…..have sex even. Whatever it is you two are calling 'commitment' today."

Lois simply glared at her.

Chloe let out a breath, "Look, I'm sorry. But you're making a big deal out of nothing. So the Planet finds out that your partner is the father of your little girl. Big deal. It's not like they thought she was fatherless. They'll just know who he is now. And hey! Maybe Jimmy won't say anything about what happened earlier and you won't even have to worry about any of this."

"And maybe we'll all wake up tomorrow morning and discover that the world is suddenly peaceful and that Lex Luthor has died, leaving his entire fortune to Amnesty International or some other organization," Lois rolled her eyes.

Chloe thought about this a moment and opened her mouth to speak, "I think the world peace thing stands a better chance than the Lex Luthor part."

She got a face full of pillow for her troubles, "I'm just saying…."

"I know," Lois ran a hand over her face, "It's not a big deal."

"No, it's really not. And believe it or not but it's going to be fine," she finished, waiting until the room fell silent before going back to what she had intended them to talk about tonight, "So the date really went that well, huh?"

Lois turned her head to look at her.

"Oh, and the glow's back," a grin turned up the corners of Chloe's mouth. "Naked or not, apparently Clark's still got it."

Chloe got another face full of pillow.


	20. Part 19

**Part 19: Explanations Why**

Jimmy kept his word for a whole week before Perry beat it out of him. Reflecting back on it, Lois was glad that it was Clark's day off.

The truth of the matter was that she should have known it was coming; Perry had been so serious all morning but when he approached her desk and quietly said her name, she was still surprised.

"What can I do for you, Chief?" she replied, not looking up from her computer screen.

Perry leaned forward and rested his arms on her desk, "Would you mind joining me in my office for a moment? We need to have a chat."

She looked up, "If this is about the piece Clark and I are doing on the warehouses down by the docks, you can forget about us dropping it; there's something there and we're going to find it."

"Lois, this isn't about that," he shook his head, "Although I do think you should exercise some caution on that front. You really don't want to speculate on how much the mob is involved until you have the right evidence to prove it."

"And we will," she crossed her arms, letting out a sigh as she sat back in her chair, "If it's not about that though, what'd you need to talk to me about? And keep in mind that I've got a meeting with a source in half an hour so…"

"I know about Elizabeth."

She shut her mouth abruptly, her heart wanting to blurt out to her boss that it was none of his business what she did in her personal life but her head reminding her that she and Clark had made their personal life work related when she had become his partner and hadn't told Perry about their past. She sighed, "Give me five minutes. I need to call and cancel my meeting."

He nodded wearily, "Sure Lois. Come on in whenever you're ready."

Lois turned back to her computer screen, saved what she had been working on, and then moved to the phone and dialed the number of her source. With journalistic skill she didn't feel, she deftly rescheduled the meeting and hung up.

Her hand moved back to the phone a moment later, poised to pick it up and call Clark in Smallville, where he and Elizabeth had gone for the day. At the last moment she changed her mind though, and stood up from her desk. With resolve in her eyes, she pushed her chair in and headed towards Perry's office.

Perry watched from across the newsroom as Lois called what he presumed was her source and then reached for the phone again, hovering over the receiver before apparently changing her mind, a worried look on her face.

He shook his head; the Lois Lane he knew didn't look as worried as the she did now.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. He could remember back when she had first started at the Planet and her cousin had been put into the hospital. She had been worried then but, once she had found out that Chloe was going to be fine, that look she was currently wearing had been reserved for her daughter only.

Judging from the context of her worry now, apparently nothing had changed since that time.

He sighed and inwardly kicked himself for not realizing it before; Elizabeth was the spitting image of Clark and Lois had clearly been nervous around him when he had first 'introduced' them. In addition to this, Lois hadn't brought Elizabeth into the office in months whereas before Clark had been hired, she had been a regular fixture. Perry even kept a box of her toys in his office for those times that she had to work late and couldn't get a babysitter. It all added up but one part was missing from the equation: why had Clark been estranged from Lois if they had a child together?

He was interrupted from his thoughts as Lois entered the room, knocking quietly.

"Chief?"

Perry stood up, intent on making this a conversation that didn't take place with him behind his desk and her on the other side. He moved to the couch in the corner and sat down, "Come on in, Lois. Have a seat."

She nodded and did as she was told, surprised that he was choosing the couch for the conversation they were about to have. This was business related so why wasn't it happening with him behind his desk?

"So….." he looked at her pointedly, "You want to start from the beginning or do I have to start asking awkward questions?"

She let out a humorless laugh, "Seeing as the questions would probably be more painful, I think I'll go with option A. How'd you find out?"

"Jimmy told me," Perry replied, "But don't blame him; I was the one who got it out of him."

"Like that would have been hard," she scoffed, not angry at her editor in the least. If she had been in the same position, she would have gotten it out of Jimmy too.

"He IS a bit of an open book, isn't he?"

She nodded, "I knew when he found out the other night that he couldn't keep it a secret."

"Now hold on, Lois. He tried. I was just more persistent."

She waved her hand, "Don't worry, Chief. I don't blame him. It was past time you knew anyway."

He sat back on the couch, "Yeah….about that."

She sighed, "It's not a pretty story, you know."

"I didn't expect it to be," he murmured, "And Lois? You don't have to tell me. I just need to know right now, as your editor, if this is going to affect the quality of the work that you and Clark do."

She shook her head, "Don't worry about that. Clark and I are good at putting things aside in favor of work. It won't be a problem. And I want to tell you about it. You deserve to know if only so you don't think badly of Clark or I."

"Lois, honey, I would never think badly of you. Clark on the other hand…I can't believe he would leave you like that."

She raised an eyebrow incredulously, "Is that what Jimmy told you? That he left me?"

"That was the implication."

"Perry," she looked him in the eye, guilt present on her face, "He didn't leave me. I just didn't tell him I was pregnant."

Now it was Perry's turn to look at her incredulously and, if Lois wasn't mistaken, with a touch of disappointment on his face.

"I know, I know," she rested her head in her hands. "It was a stupid decision but if you knew the rest of the story you wouldn't…."

"So tell me."

"You don't want to hear it, Chief. It's dirty and it's long and….and it highlights in technicolor a lot of bad choices that Clark and I have made since we first met."

He waited expectantly, patiently, "Lois, if you want to tell me, by all means I'm here for you. And I won't judge until the end, I promise."

She hesitated, his words ringing in her head. She wanted to tell him; having Perry in the loop would make it easier. Within reason anyways. There was no reason to tell him about Clark's powers and blow Superman's cover.

A moment later she cleared her throat, "Alright. Clark and I met in Smallville and….we didn't get along. I was investigating my cousin's murder and he had had an accident."

"Accident?"

"Yeah," she furrowed her brow, mentally running through the ways she could describe what had happened without revealing his secret. "He lost his memory for awhile and I found him and took him to the hospital. That's how we met."

"Anyways," she continued at Perry's understanding nod, "We tried to be friends at one point but it didn't exactly work. We loved to hate each other, you see and, looking back on it, it was easier that way."

She met his gaze, "I lived with his family for awhile when I was in Smallville too and that made it even easier not to be friends with him because I got to see how irrational and infuriating he can be on a daily basis. Besides all that, he was fun to annoy and I took great pleasure in doing it. Of course he returned the favor."

Perry nodded, his mind compiling the powder keg relationship Clark and Lois had in their early years. Judging from the amount of fuel it sounded like they had both added to the fire, he could tell where this was going.

"After awhile we became friends."

Her boss raised an eyebrow.

"Of a sort," she amended. "We didn't fight ALL the time and we could stand each others company. He was attractive and I could tell he thought I was too but he had a girlfriend he was obsessed with and I had boyfriends so we didn't do anything about it. I guess you could say there was a line between us that we didn't cross because we knew if we did that the 'love to hate' relationship we had with each other would be over and neither of us wanted that."

"Well obviously you did cross the line otherwise Elizabeth wouldn't be here."

"Yeah," she nodded, "We crossed it alright. I'll give you the short version and tell you that everything just kept building up until, one especially stressful night, we kissed. And it was so scary that I didn't talk to him for a week but Clark's persistent and he eventually cornered me in my apartment about it. One thing led to another…."

"….And Elizabeth happened," Perry finished for her.

She nodded, "Yeah. After, we went back to the way things had been at the beginning and that wasn't fun. At all. We fought all the time and I honestly think his parents thought he was possessed or something."

Perry shot her a questioning look.

"Clark's a nice guy, Perry, but we weren't so nice to each other after. In fact, we were downright mean to the point that we couldn't be in the same room with each other."

"Then how….?"

"I'm getting to that," she breathed out, again thinking about how to amend the story so Clark's powers weren't revealed, "I discovered I was pregnant the same day I discovered that he was leaving on his trip around the world. I didn't want him to have to change his plans because I knew he'd do something chivalrous and end up staying so, instead, I made up with him so he could leave on a good note, and then we said good-bye. Three years later, he came back into our lives."

Perry's jaw practically dropped off his face, "Three years? Lois, honey, if you knew he was going for so long, why didn't you tell him?"

She shrugged. It was going to make her look like a coward but she had no choice but to make herself look bad in order to protect the reason why Clark had had to leave in the first place, "I was afraid."

A moment of silence passed and then… "So when did he find out?"

Lois winced, knowing before she said it how bad it was going to sound, "The night you gave him the job here at the Planet."

Perry went quiet again, mulling over this. Afraid or not, Lois still should have told him; it wasn't like her to balk from fear. If he didn't know any better (and he knew he did) he would have thought that there was more to this story than Lois was giving him. When Clark came to work tomorrow morning, he would make sure he got the other perspective. In the meantime, he went back to Lois, "You know, I was worried that it was Clark who had left you."

"It's the clichéd thing to do, I know," she replied. "He would have stayed if I had told him though. He's not like other guys."

"No, he's not," he agreed, "He has a relationship with Elizabeth now, I hope?"

A genuine chuckle escaped her, "What do you think he does with his day off? He spends the whole day with her. Most nights she sleeps at my place but she has her own room at his and we regularly have dinner together. She knows her father, Perry."

He nodded, looking down at his hands before looking back up at her, "But the real question is, does her mother know her father?"

Lois looked at him, knowing exactly what he was talking about, as a slow blush crept into her cheeks, "What do you mean, Chief?"

"You know what I mean, Lois."

"We're not sleeping together if that's what you think," she said after a moment of thought.

He eyed her encouragingly.

"We started dating recently," she confessed, "And by that I mean we've had one date with the promise of more. He's not the man I remember and apparently I'm not the woman he remembers. We fight less but then again, now that all of our cards are on the table for once, we have less to fight over."

Perry pursed his lips and nodded, "And that's making it easier to work together."

"While I admit that sometimes our personal life creeps into our professional, we're still able to function the way we have since he started here."

He nodded again, thinking. Now the months of time that he had promised Lois he would limit her partnership to Clark had passed, he had been planning on splitting them up to work on their own.

And then Jimmy had told him about their past.

At first he had been overwhelmingly for splitting them up, not because of the promise he had made to Lois but because of their personal relationship. After all, professional partnerships that turned romantic rarely worked in this business and generally involved someone getting hurt. Perry, he wasn't ashamed to say, didn't want to see either of his star reporters hurt and it was for this reason that he had decided going into this meeting that he would be splitting the two up.

Now he was having second thoughts though. The facts flew through his brain once more as he tried to make a final decision and….no. He had to go with his initial reaction on this one. They were too close and, considering there was a child to consider now, this couldn't go on until they had come to a decision about their relationship, "I want to believe you, but, at this point, I'm going to have to go with my gut reaction on this one. I'm splitting the two of you up."

Lois opened her mouth to protest, something he would have found vastly amusing a few months ago considering how adamant she had been against having a partner in the first place.

"No," he held up a hand to physically stop her words, "Lois, you both need to step back and assess where you are and what's going to happen with that little girl of yours. Furthermore, you and Clark are dating now and I don't want your jobs suffering for it. In addition to this, I need you both to help cover for Sullivan. We haven't found a replacement for her yet. For all those reasons, I'm splitting you up for awhile. If it doesn't work out and you want to go back to working together in, say, two months time, than you can, alright?"

Lois looked at him, noting his serious expression and nodded her head reluctantly, "Alright, Chief. Two months."

Lois left her editor's office five minutes later with a frown on her face.

With a sigh she sat down at her desk and flipped on her computer screen, staring at it blankly. Now more than ever, she wanted to talk to Clark.

She reached over and picked up the phone, dialing it without looking at the numbers as she started to look over the story she had been working on before she had been called into Perry's office.

"Hello?"

"Martha, hi. It's Lois."

"Lois! How are you sweetie?"

She rubbed a hand over her forehead, "Tired. It's been a long day. Are Clark and Elizabeth there?"

"Clark took her for a walk a half an hour ago. They should be back soon. Do you want me to get him to call you?"

"That would be wonderful actually."

A beat passed and then…."Lois, is everything alright?"

"No, Martha, it's not. Perry found out about Elizabeth."

"Oh, honey…..are you alright?"

"I guess," she murmured into the phone, "A little sad. He split us up. Thinks our personal life is going to interfere in our professional. I don't know if he would have done it if we weren't dating but since we are…."

"…he has to split you up. If you think about it, It makes sense, Lois. And with Chloe gone, he probably needs another reporter, doesn't he?"

"Yeah," she sighed, "I know. I would have expected him to do no less than what he did but…it still hurts, you know? I didn't realize how attached I was to having a partner until he took it away from me."

"Did he give you a timeframe as to how long he wants you to work alone?"

"Two months. Says this will be a trial time to see if it works or not."

"Well, that's good, isn't it?"

"Yeah," she nodded into the phone and looked up, startled to see that Cat Grant was standing at her desk. "Martha, can I call you back?"

"No problem, Lois. Try not to let this worry you. Everything will be alright."

"Thanks. Talk to you soon."

"Bye."

She hung up the phone, "What can I do for you, Cat?"

Cat sat down on the edge of Lois' desk, "I heard the most interesting rumor from marketing this morning and I was wondering if it was true. And, seeing as I work on the same floor as you do, I figured I'd get it straight from the horses' mouth."

"Neigh," Lois deadpanned, "What do you want to know?"

"Well," she settled herself more comfortably on the desk, "Marketing was saying that they heard from distribution that you and that partner of yours share more than just story ideas and that," Cat leaned forward, "He's the one who fathered your little girl. So tell me Lois; when did you first get that beautiful man into bed with you and have you had him there recently?"

Her jaw locked angrily, "That's none of your business, Cat."

"But…"

"No."

"But…"

"No!"

"Oh come on, Lois!" she threw her hands up in the air, "I'm the gossip columnist! Do you know who stupid it made me look when marketing had the scoop on this before I did? Or distribution even. Tell me!"

"You know, Jimmy's dating someone from distribution," Lois went back to her story, hoping that Cat would get the hint and leave before she had to chase her away.

"Jimmy?" he face lit up, "Who baby-sat for you the other night so you could go on a date?"

Lois looked up sharply from her screen, "How'd you know that?"

Cat eyed her indulgently, "Lois, you haven't had a date since you started here. It's big news when you have to set up childcare because you DO have one."

"Cat," she replied, this time firmly, "You're wasting your time here because I'm not saying a word. My personal life is just that; personal."

"But…"

Lois cut her off with a hand in her face, "Enough. I have to finish this story."

"But…."

"Good-bye, Cat," she lowered the hand and went back to typing.

Cat stood up and shot her a dirty look, "Fine. Be that way."

Lois drew a sigh of relief when she left, finally, and reached for the phone again. She needed advice and she had a sneaking suspicion that a call to Gotham City would be her best move. Despite knowing that Chloe was still settling in, she needed to talk to her cousin.


	21. Part 20

**Part 20**

Martha Kent shut the phone off and sat it down next to her tea, worried now for her son and the woman she had come to think of as a daughter. She had to agree with Perry in a way though. If Clark and Lois were dating now then they probably WOULD need to be split up. She had worked in an office before and knew what the existence of such a close knit relationship could do to office politics not to mention the effect that it had on the relationship itself.

There was a reason most couples didn't choose to work together, after all.

And, even though she was sure that given some time they would get used to it, she wasn't ready to see what would happen to them in the meantime-especially with their relationship so new.

A small smile began to grow as she played her thoughts back. Her son and Lois were dating. As in a date that had gone so well that it had necessitated more dates that would then qualify them, as a unit, as 'dating'. The smile upgraded itself to a grin.

"Mom?"

She turned to see her son and granddaughter entering the kitchen, Elizabeth's hand clutched in her father's and smiles on both their faces.

"Oh good," she said, "You're back. Lois wants you to call her."

Clark raised a worried eyebrow, thinking immediately of why she would want him to call her back. She generally didn't want to bother him and Elizabeth on his day off and he, knowing how much the one-on-one time with her meant to Lois, did the same when it was her turn.

At the moment though, he had bigger issues to deal with. It had been snowing lightly when they had been taking their walk and now, inside the warm farmhouse again, Elizabeth was grossly overdressed. He knelt down to help her take off her boots and winter jacket, "She does?"

"Um-hm," Martha murmured distractedly, watching as her son efficiently divested her granddaughter of her outerwear before sitting her on a chair at the kitchen table. She inwardly lamented letting Lois take the booster seat she had bought for the kitchen to Metropolis; Elizabeth wasn't going to be able to reach the table to eat the cookies she had just finished baking.

And speaking of the cookies…., "Are you two hungry? The cookies I promised earlier just came out of the oven"

Elizabeth nodded enthusiastically, "Can we have them with milk?"

"Of course," she turned to her son, "Do you want some too, Sweetie?"

Clark let out a snort through his nose, "Do you even have to ask?"

"I shouldn't but I do anyways," Martha replied.

Her son smiled at her and moved to the fridge, "Did Lois happen to tell you what she wanted?" He took the milk out and sat it down on the counter top before reaching into the cupboard for glasses.

Martha shrugged, moving to help her son prepare the snack and shaking her head when he held up a third glass questioningly, "No thanks. I'm good with my tea," she cleared her throat, "And about the other, I think that's something you should talk about with her."

"Mom…" he said in a no nonsense tone.

She sighed, moving closer so that only he could hear her, "Perry found out about Elizabeth. She was pretty shaken up."

The milk jugs weight resounded heavily on the counter as he sat it back down, "How shaken up?"

"Well, he split the two of you up so….."

Clark let out a low expletive.

"Clark Kent!" Martha chastised, equally as low. "There are innocent ears in the room!"

He rolled his eyes and motioned to Elizabeth-who hadn't even noticed her father had said anything bad, "Her mother's Lois Lane, Mom. Trust me, she's heard that word before."

"Still…."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry," he breathed a sigh out through his nose wearily, "I shouldn't be surprised; I kind of figured he'd do that once he found out."

Martha placed some of the cookies on a plate and picked up the smaller of the two cups of milk, "Well, apparently it wasn't that that did it."

He raised an eyebrow questioningly.

She pursed her lips, humor at the edges of her mouth, "It was when he found out the two of you were dating actually."

Clark groaned and picked up his own glass of milk, following his mother to the table. He sat it down gently and picked up Elizabeth, setting her on his lap so she could reach the plate and cup his mother had sat down in front of them, "I was going to tell you, I swear."

"When?"

"Probably at Christmas. It's only three weeks away and…"

"Christmas?" Martha blinked. "Clark, you can do better than that."

"Mom, it's just…" he looked down at Elizabeth, watching as she struggled to fit a whole cookie in her little glass. Without a word, he reached down and gently took it from her, breaking the soft baked good in two before returning half of it to the table in front of her and the other into her hand, "It's really new. One date kind of new and…."

"One date? That's it?"

"Officially anyways," he shrugged, "But we have dinner together nearly every night now and lunch. Lois doesn't count those as relationship builders but I do. Every moment we spend together we learn a little more about each other."

Martha raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"But in a good way," he rushed to explain. "Before I left, you know how it was. We just….didn't connect. Maybe it's Elizabeth that's doing it but….we get along better now."

"Well, you have to," Martha shrugged. "Raising a child together makes it necessary."

"I just wish I knew if it was making her happy or not," he lamented. "I mean, I see her at the office or at her apartment but I just don't know."

"Maybe you should ask the person she spends the most time with then."

"Chloe?"

Martha rolled her eyes, "No. Elizabeth."

"Yes, Grandma?" her granddaughter replied, looking up with expectant eyes and a milky face.

"Mom…." Clark shot her a wary look. "She's too young to understand."

Martha reached over and picked up the tea towel she had left on the table earlier, "Adults always underestimate how much children see, Clark, and Elizabeth is as perceptive as you were when you were her age."

He took the towel his mother was offering now and gave it to his daughter who, after wiping her mouth, reached for the second half of the cookie she had been eating.

He studied her a moment and sighed, "Fine," he murmured wearily.

Martha smiled encouragingly at him before turning her attention to Elizabeth, "Sweetie?"

Elizabeth looked up from her snack expectantly.

"Honey, can you answer a question for me?"

She nodded, chewing.

"How has it been for your Mom since your Dad got home?"

Elizabeth didn't answer and, for a second, Martha didn't think she was going to. Clark looked at her and shook his head. He had been expecting this, she knew. That kind of question was more suited for a six year old than a three year old a month and a half shy of her fourth birthday. She opened her mouth to probe further….

"Mommy doesn't cry anymore."

Martha blinked, "What's that?"

"Mommy doesn't go to her room and cry anymore when she thinks I'm asleep."

Clark looked down at his daughter, confused. Lois had never said anything to him about this. She had said she was lonely when he was gone but that had been it. There had been no stories of tears involved.

"She smiles more too," Elizabeth continued softly, her voice trailing off at the end, "Can I have another cookie, Grandma?"

"Sure," Martha, who had been looking at the emotions flickering across her sons face, nodded, holding the plate out.

They all fell silent; Clark and his mother absorbing this information and Elizabeth eating her cookie.

"I think I should call Lois now," he broke the silence a moment later.

"That's probably a good idea," his mother agreed quietly.

From her father's lap, Elizabeth perked up, "You're calling Mommy? Can I talk to her?"

"Maybe if there's time at the end."

Tears began to well up in her eyes…

"Or maybe at the beginning," he gave in a bit, prompting his mother to roll her eyes.

The tears mysteriously disappeared, "Yes! We're going to call Mommy and I'm going to tell her all about the cows, and the horses, and…"

"I don't think she's going to have too much time to talk, Honey," Martha jumped in. "You might be able to say 'hi' though."

Elizabeth pursed her lips, thinking this through. She nodded, pouting a bit, "Fine."

Clark got up, gently taking Elizabeth with him and sitting her on his mother's lap before grabbing the mobile phone and starting to dial.

A burning question made him stop him movements though. He looked up at his mother and swallowed hard, "Mom, should I….? Do you think?"

Intuitive as she was, Martha Kent didn't need to hear the end of the question to know exactly what her son was trying to ask. She shook her head, "I wouldn't say anything about it. You know how Lois doesn't like to expose her emotions like that."

He hesitated a beat, thinking, and then nodded his head, "Thanks Mom."

"You're welcome," she replied.

* * *

Lois put down the phone and let out a sigh of exasperation. Chloe hadn't been at work or at home and she wasn't picking up her cell phone. Worst of all, Clark hadn't phoned her back yet and, though she wasn't needy by any stretch of the imagination, she found that today's happenings had prompted her to need the reassurance only he could give her. He was her partner and one of the only people she could talk to about everything in her life from journalism to her daughter's 'special-ness'.

And they were dating now. That was something she couldn't forget. Boyfriends were supposed to be there for these sorts of crises, weren't they? She winced as her words played back for her. Boyfriend sounded so 'high school' to her. Clark was more than that to her. He was….

She struggled for words. He wasn't her boyfriend. That term didn't mean as much as he was to her. And they hadn't taken that final step to upgrade the term to husband either so that was out….and truth be told she was terrified of the whole idea of marriage so that was probably a good thing.

She sighed again, this time louder and more frustrated than the first, watching the phone and willing for it to ring.

And then it did.

She blinked in surprise and picked it up, "Lois Lane."

"Hi Mommy!"

Lois nearly started to cry, "Hi Sweetie! How's Smallville?"

"Daddy took me to see the cows and we did the chores and…."

She smiled as, from the background, she heard Clark's low voice telling her that 'Mommy was working so she'd have to wait until they got back to Metropolis to tell her everything.'

"Fine," Elizabeth whined softly, "Daddy says you have to work and I can only say 'hi' and then I have to give the phone back to him."

"Daddy's right. We shouldn't talk for long but I'll tell you what. I'll get Daddy to bring me out to the farm tonight and have dinner with you and him and Grandma, alright?"

"I guess…"

"It'll be alright. Thanks for calling me."

"I love you, Mommy."

"I love you too, Sweetheart."

She heard the phone passed to Clark if the rumble of his voice was any indication and then, moments later, the sound of Martha Kent offering her granddaughter more cookies. If there was one thing she could count of getting her daughter out of the dumps it was cookies of any kind…

"Hi."

"Oh thank goodness," Lois sighed into the phone, "I was beginning to think you and Elizabeth took your walk in Siberia or something."

Clark chuckled, "No. Not quite."

She leaned back in her chair, "So what have you two been up to today, then?"

"Not much. Dad's in DC for the week so Elizabeth and I helped Mom with the chores."

"And how long did that take you? Ten minutes?" she murmured, a wry smile on her face.

"I'll have you know we took the long-cut today," he replied in mock indignation.

"So, what? It took you fifteen then?"

"Twenty actually," he muttered, clearing his throat after as he moved into the living room, "We were done in time to go for a ride on one of the horses Mom got for her birthday last year."

"Clark," she replied, worry in her voice. "You know how I feel about Elizabeth horse-back riding. She might get hurt."

"She's fine. You worry too much."

"But…"

"Lois," he cut her off, "Do I have to remind you of what I do in my free time?"

"No," she breathed out begrudgingly

"Plus," his voice lowered, "She kind of broke something today that she shouldn't have been able to so…"

"What?!" Lois sat straight up in her chair. "Clark, this is…."

"Big, I know. Don't worry. I took care of it."

"Took care of it? What'd she break?"

"Just a shovel. She couldn't do it a few minutes later though."

"So what does that mean, Clark?" she lowered her voice.

"I don't know. I haven't gotten a chance to ask Mom about it yet but I'll do that before I leave. She'd be the best one to ask. I don't know when it started with me so…."

"Yeah," she sat back in her chair, relaxing somewhat. She let out a small laugh, "Just keep me informed, alright? I need to know if she's going to be breaking things on a regular basis."

"I will," he replied, his words trailing off. "Lois?"

"Yeah?"

"Mom told me that you called earlier? Something about Perry finding out about Elizabeth?"

She grimaced, "Right. That. Elizabeth's news nearly made me forget."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. We're split up now though."

"That's what she said."

"It's just distressing, you know? I mean, I've gotten used to working with you, our styles compliment each other…."

"You mean I'm better at spelling than you are."

"Funny."

"I try."

"Yeah well I'm going to be doing my own spell checking for the next two months thanks to my own stupidity; if I had just told him in the first place….."

"He wouldn't have paired us together to begin with," Clark shook his head, "We're just going to have to deal with this for the two months, see what happens."

"See what happens? That's how you're going to deal with this? Just see what happens?"

"Lois, if we argue with Perry…."

"He'll give in and realize what a good team we make," she interjected.

"Lois…."

"No Clark," she shook her head, "It's a bad decision and I've half a mind to drop the quality of my work just so he realizes that."

He snorted, "Yeah right. The last time I checked, you didn't know how to do anything half way."

"I could try."

Silence greeted her from the other end of the phone.

She rolled her eyes, "Fine. You're right. I can't do that."

"I guess we're back to square one then."

"I guess…just a second. Perry looks like he needs to talk to me," she trailed off as her editor approached her desk, "What can I do for you, Chief?"

Clark, hearing who she was talking to, wisely stayed quiet.

"I need someone to cover Lex Luthor's Christmas party tomorrow evening. Can you or Clark do it?"

"Clark can do it," she said immediately.

Perry blinked, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Well alright then," he straightened up. "I knew you'd be able to help me. The event starts at 7 and it's black tie so don't forget to dress appropriately."

"I'll let him know," she smiled good naturedly at him.

Perry, knowing Lois, wasn't fooled by it a bit. He gestured to the phone still close to her ear, "I'm sure you will. Let Clark know I said 'Hi,' will you?"

The smile faded a bit, "Will do."

"Good."

And with that, he walked away.

Lois turned her attention back to Clark, "You still there?"

"Yeah. And thanks a lot by the way. I'd rather spend an evening next to a piece of kryptonite than Lex Luthor."

"Relax. It'll be fine. We're making the best of this, remember?"

"Ha ha. Very funny."

"I try," she retorted.

"Why isn't he getting Cat to do this? She's the one who generally handles these kind of events."

Lois shrugged, "I don't know. There must be an angle he wants you to pursue that Cat won't find."

"Maybe," he shifted in his seat and looked briefly back into the kitchen where his mother and Elizabeth had just gotten up and were now loading the dishwasher. "You're okay?"

"Excuse me?"

"About what he did separating us. Elizabeth. Everything. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Well, I don't have to go to Lex Luthor's Christmas party, now do I?"

"Lois…."

She rolled her eyes, "I'll be fine. I was just freaking out a bit and I just…..needed to talk."

"Yeah," he sighed, thinking of what his daughter had told him about Lois' disposition as of late. "Thanks for that by the way."

"What?" she quirked an eyebrow, smirking into the phone, "Calling you on your day off and disturbing quality time with our offspring?"

"Yes actually," he retorted, a smile now on his face. "I like that you can call me."

"And hopefully next time you'll be there to answer my call," she teased.

"Hey, I'll have you know that Mom, in a pinch, makes for excellent conversation and advice," he listened to her soft laughter on the other end and then, quieter and more serious, "I'll try to be here next time."

"You are, Clark," she sighed into the phone. "You are."

He waited a lingering beat and then, as it became uncomfortable…. "I'll talk to you soon?"

"Sooner than you think actually. Our daughter wants you to bring me out to the farm for dinner."

"Does she?"

"She does."

"I'll meet you on the roof at 5:30 then?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

"See you then. Bye Lois."

"Bye."

Lois hung up the phone and couldn't stop herself from smiling. She had no reason to be happy but somehow, even though nothing had changed, she was.

With a sigh, she stood up and grabbed her coffee mug. If Clark was going to be working on the Lex Luthor piece than that meant she had to handle the dock piece on her own and for that she would need caffeine….


	22. Part 21

**Part 21**

Clark readjusted his tie nervously as he entered the office the next day, Lois at his side.

"Would you stop that?" she hissed. He had been jumpy all morning and, beyond her usual annoyance at this kind of behavior, she was nervous too and that made it worse.

"Well, I'm sorry Lois but I'm nervous," he hissed back.

"Clark, the rumor going around when you picked me up yesterday night was that I was the bitch who didn't tell you I was pregnant. I don't think YOU need to be nervous," she rolled her eyes, "Besides, who are you again? This is cake compared to everything else you've dealt with this week."

"Yeah but flooding in Peru and hurricanes in the southern Atlantic have nothing on Cat when she has a piece of gos….oh hello Cat! How are you today?"

Cat raised an eyebrow in Clark's direction, holding the file she had been taking with her to Perry's office closer, "Not as good as you are, I hear."

Clark blinked, not knowing to what she was referring to. It could be about what she had learned yesterday regarding Elizabeth, or maybe what she knew about he and Lois dating. Or maybe….

She crossed her arms, "The party at Lex Luthor's mansion! God, I would kill to get to go to that!"

….that. Hindsight being 20/20, he should have been able to call that that would be the first thing Cat would want to talk to him about.

He shrugged, really not knowing how to respond to that when he had been expecting her to take a shot at either he or Lois concerning their daughter, "Yeah, that would be Lois' fault."

"Fault? You mean you didn't want to go to it?" Cat turned shocked eyes on Lois now. "Are you serious? It's the social event of the holiday season."

"Oh, well then…." She murmured back sarcastically.

The other woman sent her an incredulous look, "You ARE serious."

Lois sent it back to her, "Yeah."

Cat scowled in response, "Then why did the Chief give you this story? It's a Society piece, not what you two normally," she trailed off, her hand now making vague movements, "Write."

"Truthfully, Cat, I have no idea," Lois sighed, "Which is why Clark is now doing it because I could care less about what Lex Luthor does. And on that note, we need to go see Perry about what we're doing on that dock piece."

"Well can I be your plus one then?" she turned to Clark, ignoring Lois' segue out of the conversation.

"Excuse me?" he blinked.

"Your plus one," Cat rolled her eyes. "You know, the person you take with you? Lois doesn't want to go so you might as well take me."

"Cat, he has one press pass. Maybe two if he brings along Jimmy."

"Oh come on! Please?"

"There's only one press pass," Lois repeated stiffly.

"Actually Lois, there's two. And I think the dock piece is going just fine with you finishing it up," Perry's voice cut in.

All three of the reporters turned.

"Chief," Lois blinked. "I didn't realize you were there."

Perry looked up from the paper he had been reading and moved to step past them, "That would be because I was eavesdropping, Lois. I'm sure you know how that's done."

Lois blinked, stunned into silence, "Yeah. I'm familiar with it."

"Good," he nodded, "Kent? You busy?"

"No," Clark let out a short breath, "Not at all."

Perry motioned towards his office, "Alright then. Let's get you updated on what you're going to be covering."

"But Chief….." Cat called after him as he began to walk away. "What about that press pass? I'm the society reporter. I should be going to that!"

"We'll talk about it later," he called back. "My office, one hour?"

"One hour," she nodded.

Lois watched as Clark followed Perry down the hall and sighed. It was going to be a long two months.

From beside her, Cat, knowing she could talk the Chief into most things given enough time (and an hour in his office later would be more than enough) smirked, "So it starts."

"What starts?" she murmured, still looking at Clark and Perry as they walked down the hallway.

"Well I knew he was going to do something like this but I didn't know he was going to do it so soon."

She looked at Cat now, "Do what?"

"Separate the two of you."

Lois had to bite her lip from stopping the harsh response she immediately thought from shooting out of her mouth. To make matters worse, Cat (clearly knowing she had pushed a button) was smirking now.

She drew a calming breath, "It's not like that but….yes, he's separated us. For now."

"For now?" Cat raised an eyebrow. "This is because of Elizabeth, right?"

"Yeah," she bit out.

To her surprise, Cat's smirk turned into a frown of concern, "I didn't think he'd separate you over that. It's not like it's recent, right? She's, what? Four now?"

"She'll be four on January 20th," Lois replied quietly.

"Still, I didn't think that would interfere in your work."

"It doesn't."

"Then why would he do that?"

"Cat, it doesn't matter why he split us up," Lois gripped her briefcase tighter and began to walk towards the bullpen. Cat, much to her chagrin, followed her.

"Sure it does."

She stopped, looking around and lowering her voice, "No it doesn't."

"I still don't get why he would do something that extreme especially considering how many stories you two have written have gotten major attention from the city. I mean, the Superman pieces alone have driven sales up by…how much did he say?"

"25 in the last quarter," Lois muttered, wishing Cat would drop it.

"Exactly. It makes no sense."

Lois began to walk again.

"The only reason I can think of is that there's some kind of romantic relationship between the two of you because we all know that that's Perry's first and only rule concerning partnerships in the workplace," Cat continued.

Lois had to keep her eyes low, not chancing to look at the woman beside who, she knew, could read people like a book. She could feel her eyes on her…

"Lois? You okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded, looking up briefly because even she knew how much a well placed look in the eye could go towards assuring someone that they were telling the truth.

She must have done to good of a job though because suddenly Cat was gasping and the smirk was back.

"Oh my God. You ARE, aren't you?"

"No!" she shook her head defensively.

"You are! You're dating him!"

"No," Lois replied, lowering her voice as she noticed how many people were now watching them. She walked faster.

A full fledged, knowing grin climbed in place of the smirk and Lois suddenly knew what Cat was now thinking. She pulled them into the nearest deserted office.

"NO!" she spat out in a hushed voice. "Not….that either."

"Well, clearly you did because…."

"That was four years ago and we're not doing that anymore."

"But you're dating him."

"Yes, but we're not…." Lois cut herself off as she realized what she had just said. She sighed in resignation.

"Hah!" Cat pointed to her excitedly. "You ARE dating him! I knew it!"

Lois ran a hand through her hair in frustration, "Yes, okay? We're dating. But that's it and you cannot spread this around like it's gossip or something."

"But it IS gossip," Cat straightened her back and crossed her arms, "Great gossip even. Since you ARE dating him though, you should know not to worry. I'll consider him a loaner the night of Lex's party and bring him back in one piece. At least I'll try, anyways. I have a way with men that mystifies even me sometimes. I can't guarantee anything. How many dates have you been on? You're not in love with him, right?"

"Love? Me? Of course not. We're dating," she sighed. "But….It's just….it's more than dating and I don't want this to ruin it so I would appreciate it if you didn't press the issue and just let Jimmy go with Clark, alright?"

Cat went silent, processing what she was hearing. Lois Lane, the seemingly work obsessed loner reporter that had joined the Daily Planet after what had sounded like a horrible break-up (and that had been what everyone had assumed considering the month old baby and the lack of a husband), was admitting that she was in a relationship. What's more, it was something she cared about so much she didn't want anything to ruin it for her. Despite her love of gossip, she found herself suddenly compassionate.

She cleared her throat, "ARE you in love with him?"

Lois bit her lip and looked down, clearly collecting her thoughts.

"Lois?"

She looked up, her eyes shiny.

Cat let out a loud groan and threw her hands up in the air, "Oh you've got to be kidding me. The one piece of fresh, very edible meat that comes through those doors in years and not only do you already have a child with him but you're dating and in love with him. It figures."

"Cat, I didn't….."

"Mean to take away my newest piece of gossip before I had a chance to tell it?" she looked Lois in the eye, "Tell me honestly Lois and I won't say a word. Are you in love with Clark Kent?"

Lois bit her lip, pleading with her eyes for Cat not to push the issue, "Honestly? I don't know. But I think I could be so if you could just…."

Cat examined her face a moment, swearing when she saw the sincerity-and the fear-in Lois' eyes. This had to be real if Lois Lane was afraid. Nothing scared her.

"Cat, please."

"Fine. Whatever," she swore again now. "This sucks, you know? This is great gossip and I love to gossip."

"I know," Lois let out a short breath of relief.

"And now I can't because I am too much of a softy about this kind of love that I can't say anything that might jeopardize it," she crossed her arms.

"Thank you," Lois laid a hand on hers and squeezed.

"Yeah, yeah," the other woman rolled her eyes and began to leave the room. "I'm a giver. But the day after you finally get that gorgeous man back in bed with you I want details. Technicolor details with adjectives that suitably highlight the occasion."

"We're not really in it for that..."

Cat paused at the door, "Women who go out with men that attractive are in it, at least in part, for the sex. I should know. That kind of attractive is my type, hell, MAN is my type but THAT kind….yummy. Let me know when it happens."

Lois, relieved that the other reporter wasn't leaving the office to spread her new information around, simply nodded and watched as she left the room.

* * *

"…..so that's how it's going to work Clark. I'm sorry but with circumstances what they are-and you know how I feel about co-workers dating-I'm going to have to split the two of you up for awhile."

"Two months," Clark nodded, sitting forward in his chair. "I can't say I blame you."

"Sure you can," Perry crossed his arms. "You two are trying to make this work for your little girl and that is commendable. That's why I'm only making it two months instead of forever."

Clark breathed out a sigh of relief, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me just yet, Kent," Perry looked at him warningly, "I'm splitting you up for a reason and that is because if something goes wrong, I don't want it to effect the quality of your work and it will if you two suddenly can't stand the sight of each other. You and Lois have sold me a lot of newspapers since you became partners. And I haven't seen the woman this co-operative since she was with her cousin."

"Well, she has been…."

"Chipper lately?" Perry's lips turned up in a smirk and his eyes began to twinkle. "She's been downright happy even."

"Chief," Clark shifted uncomfortably, "That hasn't been all new though. Lois is a very happy person just…."

"Not terribly balanced," he finished for him. "Or she wasn't until you came around. Now, suddenly, she's leaving at a normal time, I hear her laughing more and the last time I asked her to write me a quick fluff piece because one of the other reporters covering it was out sick she actually wrote it without complaint."

"Well I can't take the credit for all that," he replied quietly.

"You should," Perry continued. "You balance her out. That's what makes you work.

"Which is why I'm sending Jimmy out with you to cover Lex Luthor's Christmas party and not Cat. Much as I like seeing Lois in a mood, I like seeing her not in a mood better and you on an outing with Cat will put her in a mood."

Clark nodded thankfully, "Why DID you assign Lois or I to this story, Chief? We were both confused."

"Truthfully? I think he's hiding something and I'd prefer someone in there who's going to find out what it is rather than write about who's there and who's not. In addition to that, I know of your past with the guy. Figured you'd be able to find the real Lex Luthor rather than the one who smiles for the press."

"Fair enough," Clark, who was still slightly confused, murmured.

"Also," now it was Perry's turn to shift uncomfortably, "I knew Lois would pass it off to you and I didn't want her anywhere near that mansion."

A beat of silence followed his words and then…."What do you mean by that?"

Perry sat forward and sighed, "Lois told you about what happened with her cousin, I'm assuming?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Clark, when I first met Lois she was impetuous. I mean, Luthor had Sullivan in the hospital beaten up and you know what she did? She didn't roll over and let the story die. She took Elizabeth somewhere safe and then got on with the story and because of that, Luthor lost more than money. He lost prestige in the community and a lot of the trust he had built," he met Clark's eyes across the desk, "And that was before she had a few years of hard journalism under her belt. To say I'm scared for what she would do to him given a second chance is putting it lightly. And to be more precise, I'm worried about the repercussions."

Clark processed his words for a moment, "And what makes you think that I can handle the pressure another story on Lex Luthor would bring to this paper any better than she would have?"

"Because you've got more invested in this," Perry slid a file across the desk.

Clark opened it slowly, his eyes widening.

"I know what you do when you're not a mild mannered reporter," his editor said quietly, "And this, I think, affects you."


	23. Part 22

**Part 22**

Clark looked around the room and tried to keep from fidgeting, his tuxedo feeling strange on his body. The last time he had worn one of these had been at a gala he had had to cover with Lois a month ago and, if he recalled correctly, he had spent only an hour in it before he had had to ask her to make excuses for him because of someone calling for Superman.

He smiled faintly at the memory; Lois had called him later and invited him over to her apartment for a late night chat about the story they had 'covered' (even though she had been the only one there for most of it) over tea. The story part had only lasted fifteen minutes as he typed as she dictated (and he edited her dictation) but they had spent an hour after that talking about their daughter.

And speaking of Elizabeth, Clark's brain was working overtime on how to keep her safe in light of the file Perry had shown him earlier. She was Kryptonian (or at least half Kryptonian) and that made her vulnerable to what the file had shown him. It had been suspicious, as were most things that Lex Luthor had to do with, but it hadn't looked deadly.

At least not at first glance. Apparently Lex was back in the experimentation game again and this time he wasn't targeting soldiers. This time he was focusing solely on kryptonite infected patients-or so Perry's investigation had shown him. He was also experimenting with kryptonite again and not just the green stuff.

If the first fact wasn't enough to put him on edge, the second one had been enough to terrify him.

He watched as Lex moved, smiling through the crowd of people ahead of him and, almost as if he could sense his unease, found him and began to head in his direction.

"Oh my God, he's coming over here," Jimmy, who had accompanied Clark tonight, murmured just loud enough for Clark to hear it.

"Just stay calm and get the pictures," he replied in what he hoped was a comforting manner, "If he comes over here voluntarily it means we might just get to leave earlier than expected."

Jimmy looked over at him, "Are you sure? Perry said…."

"Perry said to get the story," Clark interrupted, "And the way I see it, if we can get it in half the time it takes other reporters to get it we deserve the night off."

Jimmy, who wasn't used to hearing Clark cut corners the way he sounded like he wanted to, raised an eyebrow questioningly, "CK, did you have other plans for tonight? Because you're sounding more and more like Cat."

"Cat would want to stay longer," he reached up and tugged at the stiff neckline of his shirt, "Not leave early."

"Yeah but she'd be in a private room with the wealthiest men at the party drinking and schmoozing."

Clark raised an eyebrow, "Schmoozing?"

Jimmy rolled his eyes and shrugged, "Or something like that."

Lex got closer and Clark, unused to his proximity after all these years, shifted uncomfortably, "Jimmy, I just don't like these things."

"Yeah," he let out a short chuckle, "Right."

"I don't like wearing this," he motioned down at himself, "Either."

"Oh I believe you. I don't like wearing this either. I just think that there are more motives behind this then "you just want to get out of the monkey suit," he looked over at Clark wryly, "Got another hot date with Lois?"

Clark shook his head, his attention still on Lex, "No, but Lois has to work tomorrow on the dock piece so I get an extra day with Elizabeth this week. Knowing her like I do, I'm going to need my rest."

"Right. So Lois waiting at her apartment, anxious to hear what happened tonight holds no temptation for you whatsoever?" Jimmy watched as Clark blushed now. "Yeah. I thought so."

Clark, not knowing what to say to that, opted to glare at Jimmy instead.

He was interrupted, unfortunately, by Lex, "Clark. Glad you could make it."

Jimmy's smile turned into a flat line of trepidation, "Mr., um, Mr. Luthor. How are you doing tonight?"

"Fine, fine," Lex smiled, "And you Mr. Olson?"

He shifted the camera in his hands and only Clark's lightning fast reflexes stopped it from falling, "Good."

"Good," Lex nodded. He turned to Clark, who was still righting the camera, "It's good to see you, Clark. When the Planet decided to attend I didn't think they'd send you."

Clark attempted a weak smile and straightened, "Neither did we but….who are Jimmy and I to complain, you know?"

Lex smiled back, "Who indeed."

He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck as he thought of the correct words to phrase what he had to ask (with work in mind-the sane part of him was asking himself why the heck he'd want to do what he was about to ask him), "Um, I was wondering if we could get a few words later? For the article?"

Lex nodded again, a satisfied look on his face, "Sure. I was hoping you'd ask actually. Is now good for you? I'm going to have to make a speech in a half an hour."

"Now's good. Jimmy, do you want to take some pictures of the crowd? Something for Perry to stick in the society section?"

Jimmy, who knew how this generally worked (although Lois would have ditched him for an interview an hour ago), simply nodded, "Sure CK. I'll be around."

"Thanks," he sighed, following Lex away from the photographer.

"Is my office okay?"

He looked up, startled, "Your office?"

Lex shot him an indulgent look, "Clark, you're not like the other reporters. Even former friends have an obligation to each other and they don't include making them ask their questions in front of all of the other reporters. You want an interview; you're going to get one."

Jimmy watched as Clark walked away with Lex and sighed, looking around the room for happy looking people to photograph. He had just taken a step away when his cell phone rang, "Hello?"

"How's it going?"

"Lois? Is that you?"

"Of course it's me. How's he doing?"

"Fine," he looked around again, just in time to see Clark disappear down the hallway towards where he assumed was Lex's office. "He got an interview with him actually."

Lois breathed a sigh into the phone, "How'd he do that?"

"Well, for starters, he hasn't tried to put him in jail."

"Ha ha. Very funny."

"Thank you, I try."

"For real though…how's he doing?"

"I assume well," Jimmy raised an eyebrow into the phone, "He just got the interview. He went off with Lex a minute or two ago."

"What?! What do you mean he went off with him?"

"I mean he got an interview and Lex took him down the hall with him into his office," he furrowed his brow in confusion. He knew what had happened with Chloe so he would have expected this kind of reaction had her cousin been the one to be doing the interview but Chloe was in Gotham right now so this made no sense, "It's no big deal Lois. I'm sure everything's going fine. He mentioned something about coming over to your place tonight after…..?"

Lois sighed into the phone, her voice telling her without actually telling him that she was still concerned.

Jimmy tried again, "He'll be fine. I know he's new at this 'on his own' reporting thing but…"

"It's not that, Jimmy," she finally spoke.

"Then what's the problem? Clark's a big boy. I'm sure he can handle it."

"Yeah," she replied succinctly. "Just get him to call me when he finishes, okay?"

"Sure," he nodded, taking a breath. "Lois, are you sure everything's alright?"

"It's fine. Just get him to call me."

"Okay, but…." A click cut him off and he pulled the phone away from his head, frowning at it. Lois had just hung up on him. That was odd.

He made a mental note to ask Clark about her weird mood when he got out of Lex's office.

* * *

Lois laid the phone down on its cradle and sighed. This was not good. Not good at all.

She leaned forward and placed her head in her hands, thinking hard about what she was going to do about the situation they were now in. If Clark hadn't gotten that interview, than she wouldn't be as concerned as she currently was feeling. On the other hand, if he hadn't gotten the interview she would have kicked him. One on one interviews with the reigning (and self-proclaimed) king of Metropolis were few and far between since she and Chloe had had their way with Lex's not so private wrongful doings.

That thought aside, she was still worried.

She looked up from her hands and looked across the room, noting with a sigh that it was 9 o'clock and she hadn't heard from Elizabeth in a half an hour. Moreover as she peeked around the corner she could see that her light was still on and, judging by the shadows, someone was still up. She rolled her eyes and got up off the couch, hoping that tonight there would be no excuses and that all she had to do was tell her to go to bed and she would.

It wasn't like she was rebellious; she was as stubborn as Lois had been at that age. She didn't like to go to bed early (she didn't want to miss anything) and she liked to sleep late. The problem lay then with the fact that, because of the necessity of holding a job, Lois needed her to be an early bird. Nonetheless, it wasn't something she couldn't get around.

This in mind, she walked down the hallway and sighed as she watched her daughter from the doorway.

Lois raised an eyebrow as she looked at Elizabeth lying across her bed, pillow draped across her face and teddy bear gripped to her chest, "Sweetie? Why aren't you in bed? Is everything alright?"

She didn't answer but her grip tightened on the bear in her arms.

"Elizabeth?" she came closer, sitting down on the edge of the bed, "C'mon, stop playing around. I've got to get to work in the morning and you've got a busy day with your Dad."

Elizabeth let out a moan.

"You knew this was coming. You like spending time with your father, remember? And I'm sorry for the early hour. Next time I'll tell him not to pick you up until later, okay?"

She paused as she thought how that would work (Clark, eager for time with her, liked starting their day early) and shook her head, glad that Elizabeth couldn't see her. "Elizabeth? C'mon…please?"

She could feel her daughter hesitating but she lowered the pillow anyway and it nearly broke her heart when she did, "Oh Honey. What happened?"

Elizabeth, who had been crying if the red, swollen eyes were any indication, sniffed, and sat up, "Is Daddy going to be okay? Something happened to him, didn't it?"

Lois, who could never stand to see her daughter in such emotional pain, moved until she was sitting next to her in the bed, and pulled her closer, "He's working right now. Why would you think that something happened to him?"

"Because I heard you talking to Uncle Jimmy about it on the phone," she leaned into her mother.

Lois, who had opened her mouth to respond comfortingly, was taken aback, "How long were you standing there?"

Elizabeth shook her head, "I wasn't! I promise! Even though Uncle Perry said it was a good thing I don't eve-trough."

"Eavesdrop, sweetie," she corrected gently.

"But I don't! I was here the whole time!"

She found her comforting voice again, "Sshhhh. It's okay. I believe you."

"Is he going to be alright though? I didn't hear that part."

Lois furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at Elizabeth's upturned face, "You weren't eavesdropping though so how did you hear that phone call?"

Elizabeth looked down again.

"You can tell me, you know. I'm not going to be angry."

"You promise?" she whispered.

"Cross my heart," she dropped a kiss on her forehead.

Her daughter leaned in even closer to her, as if to draw strength from her, "My ears hurt and then…..I just heard you."

"Is that why you had the pillow over your head?"

Elizabeth nodded. "It went away but it came back again. It's gone now."

"Oh," Lois replied, inwardly freaking out. Martha had told her that Clark hadn't gotten any kind of powers until he was a teenager so what they heck was happening with Elizabeth that she was getting them early? She made a mental note to send Clark up to talk to Jor-El if only so that her daughter could have some answers about what was happening to her.

In the meantime though, she had damage control to run before she let her own fears over what was happening take hold of her.

"He's going to be fine. In fact, he's coming over tonight to work on that story he's covering right now."

Elizabeth's head snapped up, "Can I stay up to see him?"

"You have to go to bed now. Aren't you tired?"

"No," she shook her head adamantly, even as a yawn tried to escape her.

"Really?" Lois let out a laugh, "Tell you what, I'll sleep in here with you tonight and I'll get your father to stay over, alright? Then you'll know he's here and safe and tomorrow morning you won't have to get up so early."

"But I thought you weren't worried!"

"I'm not."

Elizabeth looked up at her, not buying that answer. Her eyebrow rose expectantly, Clark's eyes starring at her reproachfully, "Okay, so maybe I'm a little worried. Your Daddy's covering a story tonight but I'm overreacting. You know how I worry about you?"

Her daughter nodded.

"It's like that."

Elizabeth looked down at her bear thoughtfully, "Grandma says you're overprotective."

Lois, unable to stop herself despite the underlying feelings of worry that still pervaded her mind, laughed, "She does?"

"Yeah. She's says you're worse than Daddy."

"Well that's because I've had you to myself for so long," she hugged her closer. "And I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you."

"Or Daddy," Elizabeth added quietly.

"Or Daddy," she murmured.

A comfortable silence fell over the room as both mother and daughter thought about what the other had said to them.

After a minute of this, Lois dropped another kiss on the top of her head, "I think it's time for bed."

Elizabeth sighed reluctantly, "Alright, fine. But you'll make him stay?"

"Absolutely," Lois stood up and reached for the covers, lifting them enough so that she could crawl under. "He'll be here in the morning when you wake up."

She yawned again, her eyes already drooping.

Lois laughed silently, "Good night, little girl."

"G'night, Mommy," she murmured.

And with one last look at her daughter, she tucked her in, turned on her night light and left the room.

* * *

"….and that's why it's important that we pay attention to the children of this city," Lex finished with a smile, "They're our future."

Clark smiled a pained smile and wrote down what his former best friend had just said to him, all the while wondering if he had actually changed since he last knew him or if it was all a line. He thought back to the conversation he had had with Perry just the other day and suddenly the foggy grey space that Lex had created for himself, meant (he was sure) to fool any reporter willing to look deeper into his agenda, became black and white again.

He cleared his throat and stood up, happy for all the orphanages that would receive the money being given to them but terrified at the possibilities in whatever else he was working on, "Thanks Lex. This has been good."

"My pleasure," he stood up too and reached for his hand to shake it. "I'm sure the story will be wonderful, especially considering how close to your heart this subject is."

Clark took Lex's hand and shook it, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Lex loosened his grip and let go, putting it safely back into his pocket. "I just figured since you had a family now that this would be handled differently than if Joel Brown from The Post covered it. Congratulations by the way. You and Lois….I didn't see that coming. Your daughter's beautiful."

Clark could have sworn at that moment that his heart stopped but he put a smile on his face, mindful from what Perry had told him that Lex was a dangerous man, "How'd you hear about that? We thought we were being…."

"….discreet?" Lex met his smile with one of his own, "My lawyer has offices across the street from the Planet and I saw the two of you with her on your way home from work one day. She looks a lot like you."

"Yeah," he nodded, "There's a lot of Lois in her too, though."

"Stubborn?"

"A bit. She knows what she wants."

"That's an admirable quality."

"Yeah," he replied faintly.

A beat of silence fell and then…. "Well, I should probably get back out there. I have a speech to give. You can see yourself out?"

"Um-hm."

Lex laid a hand on Clark's shoulder and smiled, "It was good to see you."

"Yeah. You too."

"And I look forward to the story."

"I'm looking forward to writing it."

"I'm sure you are," the smile broadened into what Clark could conclusively say was a smirk. "I'll see you out there."

And with those words hanging in the air ominously, Lex left the room.


End file.
